The Vampiress from an Evolved Species
by Wannabanauthor
Summary: COMPLETE! Instead of meeting Karen, Blade meets an evolved vampiress, Diana, who tests his morals. She introduces him to her world, and as time goes on they find themselves growing closer as the chaos escalates from their two very different worlds.
1. Diana and Blade Meet

**I thought I might start a new series. Hope you like it! The romance comes a little later, but there will be chemistry.**

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Vampires _never_ surprised her, but some reason this one did. She hadn't expected that the dead man on the autopsy table to be a vampire. She should have known. And now she was paying the price by watching Curtis die right in front of her.

She was surprised, but she was not stupid. She burst through the doors and ran down the hallway. The wounded vampire was right behind her. Her pathway was blocked by nurses and doctors. The vampire tackled her and held her down. He bit into her neck and she screamed. She summoned up her strength and threw the vampire into the wall. He looked shocked, and he should have been. No ordinary person could fight against a vampire. She pressed her hand to the bite on her neck, and tried to stand up.

She saw a man dressed in black beat the living crap out of the vampire. She sank to the floor as her vision blurred. She was becoming weak from the blood loss. The wound hadn't stopped bleeding yet. It always took longer for vampire bites to heal than regular wounds.

Blade cut off Quinn's arm. It fell to the floor inches away from the woman who had been attacked. It turned to ash immediately. The woman crawled away and attempted to get up, but failed. He almost admired her for her determination. She managed to sit up and lean against a gurney. She was breathing hard and trying to focus.

The police showed up and started shooting at Blade.

"Motherfucker! Are you out of your damn mind?" he shouted at them. They should have been shooting at Quinn, not him.

Quinn took the opportunity to run. He jumped out a window. Blade wanted to go after him, but it was too late.

He looked back at the woman who had been bitten. She looked vulnerable and helpless. He should kill her; she would become a vampire if he didn't. Then her silver eyes locked onto his. It was as if her gaze penetrated him. He made up his mind.

He walked over to her and picked her up. More reinforcements arrived and started shooting. He ran through a door, but it only led to a small room with no other exit. The only way out was through the window. He smashed it open with his fist.

The woman stirred in his arms. She was wide-awake now, and new his intentions. He changed his grip on her and threw her out the window. He could hear her curse and she sailed through the air and landed on another building.

She landed hard on her shoulder and pain shot through her body. She was not as worried about her shoulder as she was about her neck. Her shoulder was already starting to heal; all it needed was to be popped back into place.

She heard boots land next to her. Powerful arms scooped her up and help her to her feet.

"My arm is dislocated," she whispered to the man in black. He grabbed her arm and her shoulder, and popped the arm back into place. She grunted at the pain and gritted her teeth. She felt her world slip into oblivion.

* * *

Blade carried the woman to his car, and drove to the hideout. He weighed the pros and cons of bringing her to the workshop. Whistler would be mad, he was sure of it.

He looked at her while she was sleeping. Her milk chocolate complexion was turning gray. He remembered her silver eyes. They were beautiful and exotic. He quickly banished the thought from his mind. He didn't have time for feelings.

He checked her pulse to make sure she was alright. She was fine and he steered his attention back to driving.

His car entered the workshop. He parked it and got out.

"Whistler!" he called out, but Whistler ignored him. Blade took the woman out of the car and carried her towards an examination table. "Whistler!" This time Whistler came over and looked at the woman.

"So you're bringing in strays now, how delightful," he said sarcastically. Blade ignored him and placed the woman on the table. She stirred a little but was stayed asleep.

"She's been bitten," Blade stated flatly. Whistler looked from him to the woman.

"Then you should have killed her."

"Yeah, but I didn't." Whistler narrowed his eyes. He went to a shelf and pulled off some salts and a syringe. He put the salts under the woman's nose. The smell woke her up.

Her eyes snapped open. She had no idea where she was. She recognized the man in black, but she had no idea who the old man was. She tried to sit up, but as soon as she did a searing pain went through her head.

"Where am I?" she managed to get out.

Whistler peered at her and read her tag.

"Dr. Diana Thomas, you've been bitten by a vampire. We're going to burn the virus out with garlic and an essence of silver. This is going to hurt a lot." He leaned in close with syringe. That's when she started struggling. Blade hands shot out and held her arms down. She kicked the syringe out of Whistler's hand, and pulled out of Blade's grasp. She kicked the old man away and rolled off the table.

Blade was surprised by her strength. He reached out for her, but she put her hand up preventing him from coming any closer. Surprisingly, he couldn't get any closer to her. It was almost as if she made a force field. The barrier weakened and he was able to grab her and put her on the table. She still struggled, but she was getting weaker by the second.

"Hold her still, damnit!" Whistler ordered. Blade pressed on a pressure point that made her go still. Whistler injected her, and her body convulsed with pain. Blade had to use all of his strength to keep her down. She was strong.

She screamed extremely loud as the silver raced through her bloodstream. The garlic didn't do any harm to her, but the silver made her blood boil. Her body arched as the silver attacked her system. The dose wasn't lethal, but it was enough to knock her unconscious. Her body slumped down, and Blade let her go. He wasn't entirely sure that she was human.

"It was Quinn who bit her," Blade stated.

"Frost's little errand boy? Do you feel responsible for her state?" he asked indicating the woman on the table.

"No," he replied coldly. Whistler started to walk away and go back to his work.

"I'll give her fifty-fifty, if she makes it through the night," he said and returned to his walk.

Blade kept watch over the woman. She intrigued him somehow. He usually blocked his feelings.

He studied her. She looked like she was in her 20's and physically fit. She had straight her that went down her back, but the top part was in a ponytail. She wore silver hoops in her ears, and no make up. She looked fairly young, but he knew not to judge people by their looks. She could be a vampire for all he knew.

He was confused. Different thoughts and feelings raced through his head, but he quieted them down. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He walked out without a second glance. He tried not to think about what she could be. He didn't know what to do with her.

A few hours later

Diana woke up, and instead of silver eyes, her eyes were now blue.

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**The next chapter will be longer. Please review.**


	2. Deceiving the Hunters

**Told you this chapter was going to be longer. Hope ya like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blade or any of its characters. I do own Diana though.**

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Diana sat up in the bed and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. (I forgot to mention the bangs in the last chapter). She looked around the room. 

_Looks like a damn armory_, she thought. She touched her neck only to discover the wound was still there, but they were dressed. She raised her boot to the bed. She pressed a compartment in on the front part of the heel. The compartment popped out revealing two handles holding a test tube. It was filled with red liquid. She took it out of its hold. She opened the vial and downed it in one gulp. She replaced the tube and pushed the compartment back in. It would kick in in a few seconds. She made her eyes turn back to silver

She got off of the bed. She walked over to a corner where weapons lay. She picked up a small 9mm gun and tucked it into the back of her pants. She pulled down her jacket to cover it.

Something caught her eye. She saw an object on the table that was covered with a small piece of cloth. She removed it revealing a sword. It was silver and a nice design. Cautiously she touched the handle. As soon as she touched it, it started ticking. She withdrew her hand and stepped back. Blades snapped out of the handle, causing her to jump. They withdrew once more.

She walked over to a coffee table where a driver license was. The name read Vanessa, but she couldn't make out the last name to due to long-dried bloodstains. She put the license back and walked over to the door.

She put her ear to the door and listened. A million different sounds came to her, but she blocked out the unimportant ones. She faintly heard two human voices. She tried opening and was surprised by the fact that two men had left it unlocked.

She walked through place trying to find an exit. The voices got louder as she walked in one direction. Curiosity got the better of her, so she followed the voices. She turned one corner to see the man called Blade sitting in a restraint chair naked from the waist up. His muscular body was covered with tattoos. The old man was standing over a table mixing some chemicals together. She crouched in the corner, making sure not to be seen, and watched the spectacle.

"I'm ready," Blade said. She could see him tense up his body, preparing for something.

"I must be getting soft in my old age, letting you bring home a stray like that," Whistler said. Diana heard the disappointment in his tone. Sounds like Blade fucked up. "It was damn stupid of you. We might've lucked out, though. I checked her background. Turns out she's a hematologist. She might be useful to us. I took a look at that notebook of hers. She's onto something."

"I'm not sure. I don't think she's human," Blade stated. Diana held her breath. She was afraid Blade might know what she was. If he did know, he would probably kill her.

"What makes you think that?" Whistler asked curiously. Diana didn't show any unusual characteristics other than being able to break out of Blade's grasp.

"She was able to throw Quinn into a wall after she had been bitten." Diana cursed under her breath. She had hoped that Blade hadn't noticed. " I've never heard of a human doing that."

"Well, we'll see when she wakes up." Whistler inserted a test tube filled with some liquid into a pistol projector. "I had to increase the dose. It's over fifty milligrams now."

"Just do it old man," Blade said impatiently. Whistler injected him with the fluid in the tube. After the dose was had entered Blade's body, Whistler pulled the pistol projector out and set it down on the table.

Blade's body rocked with pain. His body started to shake violently as the serum did its work. Whistler held onto him through the whole thing. Gradually the pain decreased until it was gone altogether. He slumped in the chair, his body soaked in sweat. He noticed something was different. He looked at the dark corner a few yards in front of him. His eyes met silver ones. Whistler turned around and saw the woman too. Quick as a flash, she was gone. Whistler ran after her. Blade looked at the spot she had been in. She had seen him in a weak moment.

Diana ran for her life. She cursed herself for staying that long. She grabbed another gun as she ran. She could see the old man catching up with her. Because of her boots, she couldn't run at her full speed.

She came up to a gate. She stopped and tried to open it, but it was locked. She turned around and ran in another direction only to be cut off by Whistler. She stopped and raised the gun in her hand. He stopped moving towards her.

"Wandered off the beaten path, Doctor? You might want to put that down. There could be serious consequences of you don't know how to use it." Diana racked a round into the chamber and Whistler gulped. So she did know how to use the gun. Blade silently landed behind her. Diana sensed him, and pulled the second out of her waistband and pointed it at Blade. Big mistake.

Blade didn't hesitate like Whistler did. As soon as she raised that gun, he knocked it out of her hands, and went for the other one. She predicted his move and spun around to avoid him for taking it. She pointed that one at him too only to find him gone. He grabbed her in a strong grip. A cool blade snaked its way across her neck. So this guy had skills, well so did she.

"Drop the gun," he said into her ear. She dropped it and it clattered to the floor. She raised her boot and stomped on his foot. He removed the blade and stepped away from her. She put distance between them.

"Who are you people?" she asked.

"My name's Abraham Whistler. You've met Blade." He nodded towards Blade who still had the throwing disc in his hand. He glared at her, and she met his glare head on. He finally turned away and she smiled in triumph.

* * *

"So am I a prisoner here?" Diana asked. She leaned against a table while Whistler filled a car up with gasoline. Blade was getting suited up. _Nice body_, she noted. Almost as if sensing her gaze, Blade looked back. She kept her eyes trained on him. She didn't want him making any sudden actions without her knowing. Blade turned his attention back to his weapons, uneasy with her gaze. Whistler noticed this exchange but said nothing. 

"Not at all. We just had to take certain precautions before we let you go. You gotta understand; they're everywhere. Vampires. The homines nocturna. We hunt them you see. Moving from one city to the next, tracking their migrations. They're hard to kill. They tend to regenerate."

"Really? Vampires?" she asked skeptically. "Isn't this all just a little too sci-fi?"

"You met Mr. Crispy at the hospital. What do you think?" Diana turned her attention to Blade. He tone was filled with annoyance. She had resisted the childish urge to stick her tongue out at him.

"So what do you hunt them with? Stakes? Crosses?" she asked sarcastically.

"Crosses don't do squat. Some of the legends are true, though. Vampires are severely allergic to silver. Feed them garlic and they go into anaphylactic shock." He pulled out a leather satchel and unzipped it. It was a big lamp. Now was the time to see if this woman was a vampire. He shone the light on her. "And, of course, there's always sunlight, ultraviolet rays." She squinted her eyes, but the light didn't affect her. "Got this sucker up and running; give her a try tonight." He handed the lamp to Blade.

Blade tested its weight. "It's still heavy," he said.

Whistler looked at him. "Well, you're so big." Diana smirked. So these people did have emotions. . Whistler came up to her and handed her a small pepper spray canister.

"It's vampire mace. Garlic with an essence of silver."

Blade turned to Diana. He nodded towards the car.

"Let's go." It wasn't a request it was a command, and Diana didn't take to kindly to demands. She stared in disbelief as blade walked towards the car.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"If you want to live to see another day, you'd better be out of the city by nightfall."

"Where am I supposed to go? I have a life here," she protested. Blade shook his head. He didn't suffer fools gladly

"You've been exposed to them. One way or another, somebody's going to take you out." Diana narrowed her eyes. She spoken to soon when she thought Blade might have emotions. She walked over towards Blade and stopped a few feet from him.

"Comforting," she said and walked to the passenger's door side and got in the car.

Blade walked over to Whistler.

"So she's not a vampire. That doesn't mean she's not a danger. Watch her close," Whistler advised. Blade nodded.

"I'm curious to find out who they sent to get rid of her."

* * *

The ride to Diana's apartment was a quiet one. She figured Blade wasn't much for talking or socializing. She stared straight ahead of her for the whole ride. If he wasn't going to talk neither was she. 

Finally, he pulled into the alley next to her apartment. She got out of the car and slammed the door. As she walked to her apartment Blade called out to her.

"Don't forget what we told you. They're everywhere," he warned.

"But it's daytime." He answered by speeding off through the alley. "Asshole."

She walked into the lobby of the apartment building and waited for the elevator. There was a couple in front of her with matching pair of glyphs on their necks. _Ah, so these two are familiars_, she thought. The elevator doors opened and Diana stepped inside after them.

She could feel the couple's eyes on her. She turned around for a brief look. Sure enough, they were looking at her.

"Howya doing?" the guy asked. Diana smiled and nodded and turned back around.

The elevator dinged and opened. She walked to her apartment and never looked back.

She quickly took a shower and dressed in a black tank top and jeans. She shrugged on a leather trench coat. She started packing some of her stuff and hesitated. She shouldn't be running. She could use this to her advantage. She walked over to the phone. She dialed 911 and waited for the operator. Once the operator picked up, Diana hung up the phone.

She walked over towards her bookcase and opened it. She smiled at the inventory. She chose her favorite pair of twin daggers. They were made by the Celtics. She was told that witches chanted over them when they were being made. She had always had admired the Celtics for heir knot designs. She picked also picked out a Glock and placed in it a holster sewn into her jacket. She took out a strap and buckled it under her chest. She slid her daggers into the upside down scabbards on the strap. She went into the kitchen to have a little snack.

She was sitting at her kitchen table drinking from the tomato juice bottle, when she heard her front door open. She ran into the living to see a cop there. She started to step back.

"Hold on. It's alright. I got a 911 hang up call and decided to check it out," the young man said. _Yeah right_, she thought. "You're Diana Thomas, right?" She nodded. She noticed his nametag read "Officer Krieger". "You're colleagues at the hospital said you were kidnapped." He noticed the dressings on her neck. "Are you ok?"

"Lovely," she replied. She pulled the dressings off to reveal an unmarked neck. The wound had healed. "What happened to the other doctor I was with?"

"Oh, Curtis Webb. He died." He saw the sorrow in her eyes. "Look don't worry about that right now." Diana frowned.

"Why not?" Her voice was full of dread.

"Because you're dead now too, you bitch!" He pulled out his gun and pointed it at her. With lightning speed she lunged towards him and yanked the gun out of his hand and elbowed him hard in the face. She backhanded him and he flew across the room and hit the wall.

She was on him in a flash. She had held him by the throat in the air with his gun pointed at his crotch.

"Who sent you?" she demanded. Krieger looked terrified but didn't say anything. She threw him against another wall.

"I'm not going to ask you again," she said as she pinned him against the wall. Her eyes were now blue. He still didn't say anything. She turned his head around to view his neck. She read the glyph. _Deacon Frost_, she thought. This guy told her all she needed to know. She leaned in and licked her lips. She was about to move in for the kill, when she heard a click behind her.

"Hello Blade," she said evenly. He grabbed her and threw her to the ground. With one punch he knocked Krieger out. Diana started to get up and Blade grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. She grunted in pain. He stared into her eyes.

"What are you?" he asked hatred filling his voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she said teasingly.

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**Don't you just love cliffhangers. I'll update when I can.**


	3. Sexy Lady

**Sorry that it's been awhile. I want these chapters to be longer, and that takes time. Hope ya like it!**

**This series goes by the movie based book, more than the actual movie. And the timeline in this story starts in 1998 just like when the movie came out.**

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"You know, after a few marriages, I stopped liking it rough," Diana managed to say. She grabbed Blade's wrist that was pinning her to the wall, and squeezed until she heard a crack. He dropped her and massaged his wrist. 

"What are you?" Blade repeated. Diana didn't answer. She saw Krieger stirring. He was waking up. She focused her attention on Blade. He went for his gun, but his holster was empty. His gun was gone.

Diana brought her hand from behind her back, to reveal the gun. She twirled it on her finger.

"Looking for this Blade?" He lunged to grab the gun from her but she raised the gun at him. He stopped immediately. There was already a round in the chamber.

"The chamber's empty," he lied. Diana smirked. He must have thought she was an idiot.

"No it's not," she replied catching him in his lie. She heard movement behind her and saw Krieger run towards her. She took her focus off Blade to kick Krieger in the solar plexus. He doubled over gasping for air. She had to drop the gun to fight off Blade, who was throwing punches consistently. She punched him in the gut, and gave an uppercut to Krieger's jaw. Blade took the opportunity to grab his gun and point it at Diana.

"Don't move. I don't know if silver will kill you, but it certainly will hurt if I shoot you."

Diana stood still. She new better than to mess with vampire hunters. They were serious when it came to their work.

"You have some explaining to do."

_You have no idea_, Diana thought.

"What do you want to know?" Diana asked. She sat at her table with Blade's gun trained on her. He had disarmed her earlier. He wasn't taking any chances. He had Whistler on her speakerphone so he could hear the whole conversation.

"What are you, would be a question for starters," Blade said. He had his suspicions, but he wasn't exactly sure she was a vampire. If she was, she could be a threat.

"I'm not a threat to you, if that was an implied question," Diana replied. Blade was a little surprised. It was like she had read his mind, but he wasn't going to let her know that.

"That is not what I asked you." He saw her tense up. Her eyes were still blue, which he thought was odd. He had clearly remembered her eyes being silver.

"I'm a vampire." No sooner had she said those words, he pulled the trigger. Her hand came up in tenth of a second, and the bullet ricocheted off of her. Blade sidestepped to avoid the bullet. He noticed that she looked wavy. She lowered her hand and her appearance went back to normal.

"Sorry, I don't like being shot at," she growled. "Force fields do come in handy. Now, if you shoot at me again, I'll make sure that the bullet hits you. We don't have much time before Officer Friendly over here wakes up, so let me finish."

"Now if I may continue. Yes, I'm a vampire, but I'm harmless. I come from an evolved species of vampires. It was said that father of the vampires had a twin sister. Their mother was bitten by a bat when she was pregnant. The boy absorbed most of the virus that was transmitted, and the girl absorbed a weaker form of the virus. Even though her virus was weaker and less stable on its own, she was as powerful as her brother and had her own special abilities. The virus fused with the rest of her body cells and became stronger, but unchanged. It was able to enhance her senses and made her body immune to all diseases. It was said that her brother killed all of their family, but spared her."

Blade had heard stories about the creator of vampires, but they were just myths and he had never heard this version before. He listened to her as she continued.

"She had two children, evidently twins: a boy and a girl. The boy was born with his mother's virus, but he absorbed it from his sister so that she was born without it. She still had special powers, but she wasn't a vampire. Nobody knows what happened to her. Her brother is one of the oldest vampires in history. I was bitten from his mother's race of vampires. I can walk in the sun, and garlic doesn't affect me. Neither does wooden stakes. My kind is peaceful. Many of the older vampires have formed clans for the newly turned vampires who have nowhere to go, and are clueless as to what their needs are. Clan buildings are stationed all over the world. These buildings include blood banks, blood donation buildings, clubs, safe houses, and main buildings where conferences and business take place."

Blade stared at her. He had only thought there were Purebloods and lesser vampires that existed. Now he found out, there was another race as well.

"How old are you?" Blade asked.

"Old enough," she said.

"Wait, you dupe humans into thinking that they're giving blood to help society, when all they're really doing is satisfying the needs of vampires!" Diana heard the anger and disgust in his voice. She shrugged it off.

"We can either dupe the humans or kill them. What's your choice?" she said simply.

Blade had no answer for that. She looked at his gun that was still trained on her. He wasn't going to lower it anytime soon.

"You're still a vampire. Give me one good reason not to kill you," he stated flatly.

"Hold on a second it, Blade! She could be useful to us," Whistler said from the speakerphone.

"How?" he growled. Diana narrowed her eyes. She stood up and walked over to Blade. He wouldn't pull the trigger and she knew it. He kept the gun up. She walked up until the butt of the gun was against her shirt.

"I've been around for awhile. I know a lot more about vampires than you ever will," she responded through gritted teeth. She didn't like being called useless.

Blade stepped back a little. Clearly this woman had spunk.

"Blade she's right. She might know something that could help us out."

"Like what?"

"Like that this familiar belongs to Deacon Frost," she said seriously.

Blade looked at her in awe. So this woman did know a thing or two about vampires. She could read glyphs, she could fight, and she knew the history.

"Have you decided what you're going to do? We don't have forever," she said impatiently.

Blade studied her before he made his decision. They _didn't_ have forever. He handed her back her weapons. She strapped them to her body, this time strapping the scabbards with daggers to her hips.

"You're coming with me," he decided. "Whistler, I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone and slung Krieger over his shoulder. He walked out of the apartment with Diana right behind him.

They stood next to Krieger's car. Blade held the officer up.

"Ok, Diana let's see what you can do," he said.

She went around to the back of the car. She pulled out a dagger from her one of her twin scabbards strapped to both sides of her waste. She jammed it into the lock of the trunk and it opened. She sheathed the dagger and opened the trunk. There was a white case in it.

Blade dragged the police officer to where Diana was standing. He shook him awake. Diana opened the case. Inside were a dozen pints of blood. She leaned in to read the label on the case.

"This belongs to the Hillburn Clinic. It's a blood bank owned by vampires." She saw Blade give her a look. "The other kind, not my kind," she added quickly. She closed the case then the trunk. She sat on the side of the car, while Blade interrogated the cop.

"Where were you taking it?" Blade asked Krieger.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Krieger answered. Blade slammed his head into the trunk. Diana took out a file, and started filing her nails.

"I'm not going to ask you again," Blade said.

"Try breaking his fingers. That usually works," Diana suggested. Blade grabbed the guy's hands.

"Since when did you start listening to bitches, Blade?" Diana snapped at that remark. Within a second she had Krieger by the throat. This time, she slammed his head into the trunk. She let him go, and Blade gripped the guy harder and pulled out his gun.

"You heard the man. Where were you taking the goddamn case?" she asked bitterly.

Krieger looked from Diana to Blade. He didn't know which one he should be more scared of. So he spit at them.

"Go fuck yourself!" Krieger replied. Blade had lost his patience with the police officer long ago. He pointed his gun at Krieger.

"No, you fuck this!" He was about to pull the trigger when Diana gripped his hand. She struggled to keep him from shooting.

"Wait!" she said. While they struggled, Krieger took the opportunity to run.

Blade managed to push Diana away, and searched for Krieger, but the officer was long gone. Blade took off his sunglasses and faced Diana, the anger rolling off him in waves. She stared back with blue eyes. She wasn't scared of him at all.

"What the hell was that!" his voice had gone deadly low.

"You were about to kill a man—" she began.

"He's a familiar! He's not exactly what you would call innocent!" he argued.

"I never said he was innocent! He could have been a useful interrogation subject!" she bit back.

"In case you didn't notice, he didn't say anything! He wasn't going to say anything!" he yelled. People were starting to stare. Diana lowered her voice as she spoke.

"Do you know that for certain? You could have listened to me," she said. Blade just shook his head and walked to his car. The woman didn't get it. He was use to doing things his way, not some random person's. He got into the car, and Diana got in on the passenger side.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she strapped her seatbelt on.

"I'm coming with you," she said, and before he could respond, she added, "These people sent somebody to _kill_ me. That's not something I let pass lightly. These people messed with the wrong vampire."

"Damnez-le! Je ne veux pas travailler avec elle! (Damn it! I don't want to work with her!"" Blade cursed in French.

"Bien, je ne suis pas trop heureux au sejut de travailler avec vous l'un ou l'autre! (Well, I'm not too happy about working with you either!)" she responded. He glared at her. Diana just smiled. He always had to underestimate her.

* * *

They had been in the car for hours. Chinese take out littered the dashboard. Diana was hungry, but not for food. Every once in while, Blade would eat something. Conversation was minimal. They really didn't have much to say to each other. After a few hours of silence, Diana decided to speak. 

"Why do you block off your emotions?" she asked.

"I don't see how that's any of your business. And I don't block off all of my emotions," he grumbled.

"I never said that. You block off all of your emotions except anger. I noticed that as you beat the living shit out of that cop," she stated calmly. Maybe conversation wasn't such a good idea.

"You contributed to that as well, if I remember correctly. Since when are my emotions your concern?"

"They aren't. I was just curious. You were the one who got defensive about it," she pointed out. "You know what? Forget I mentioned it. You're obviously very sensitive about it." Damnit, she should have kept her mouth closed.

"Who made you a goddamn shrink?" he growled under his breath.

"Harvard University. I got a Ph.D. when I was studying hematology," she said as a matter of fact. Blade just shrugged. Diana changed the subject.

"What makes you so sure he's going to come back? Nobody's that stupid."

"When you understand the nature of a thing, you know what it's capable of."

Just then Krieger darted out of the shadows and got into his car. He peeled out of the parking space and headed down the street. Blade keyed the ignition and followed Krieger's car. Diana cleared the dashboard of food by sweeping it into a garbage bag she found in the glove compartment.

"Looks like he's pretty damn stupid," she said when she was done.

Blade hit the button for the phone scanner and picked up Krieger's signal. They could hear the entire conversation. Krieger was warning them to clean out the clinic on Hillburn. (Sorry I didn't want to write the whole phone conversation.)

* * *

Blade had parked a block away from the clinic. He armed himself while Diana waited. She was studying the entrance. The front was crawling with vampires. 

"How many are in there, do you think?" she asked. "I mean the purpose for this place is probably to bring money in. There could be people inside."

"There are probably lots of them. You can never be sure. The valets, the doorman, and the whore on the corner are all vampires," he answered. He slid his sword into place. He was ready to go.

"You're armed?" he asked. She nodded. He tossed her a leather satchel, which she slung over her shoulder. "Let's go."

They walked to the entrance of the building. The doorman stepped in front of them to prevent them from entering.

"Do you have an invitation?" he asked. Blade pulled off his sunglasses and smiled.

The doorman smashed through the glass doors. Blade and Diana stepped over his body as they entered the building.

There was a hip-hop manga duo on stage. They were singing some Japanese song. Diana paid more attention to the people in the club. Most of them were humans.

They walked through the club. They were aware that people were staring at them, but they didn't care. Blade was searching the place for Krieger. He spotted him and headed that way. Some of the surrounding people tried to cover him. Blade took them out with ease. Diana hung back, really seeing no reason for getting in Blade's way.

Blade grabbed Krieger and threw him into the kitchen. He threw Krieger into a nearby shelf. He picked Krieger up. Diana chose to stick next to the entrance and study the scene going on in front of her.

"Where's the entrance?" he demanded. Krieger was breathing hard and gasping in pain.

"I can't tell you that man," he managed to get out. Blade slammed him into a tall cart. Blade picked him up again.

"Oh shit! Man, it's in the freezer!" he shouted. Blade didn't believe him, and hit him again.

"I told you it's in the fridge!" he repeated. Blade kept one hand on Krieger and opened the freezer door. It showed a hallway leading to an elevator. Blade drew back and held Krieger up.

"Give Frost a message from me. Tell him it's open season on all suckheads." He let go of him and Krieger stumbled towards the exit.

Diana who had been sitting on the kitchen counter next to the door, in the blink of an eye was off the counter holding Krieger by the neck. She was hungry, and one drink wouldn't hurt. She felt her eyes turn blue and the blood on Krieger's upper lip looked enticing.

She heard the click of a gun. She looked up to see Blade pointing his gun at her, again. She narrowed her eyes. Now was not the time for him to do his whole I-hate-vampires routine.

"Let him go, Diana," he said calmly. This was an order he knew she was going to follow.

Diana rolled her eyes and leaned forward. She licked the blood off of Krieger's top lip. Then she let him go, and he ran like a bat out of hell. Blade lowered his gun.

"You're impossible, you do know that, right?" she said. Blade's response was a glare, which she ignored. She licked her lips as she pushed past him and went through the freezer door.

Blade was a little fazed by what she had done. He had never been met head on before, let alone by a woman. She had this somewhat seductive quality to her. He remembered the look she had given him in the hideout. She had masked it with surveillance, but he knew what that look was. He hadn't had to many experiences with woman, but he wasn't clueless. She had been checking him out. _It comes from the fact that she's a vampire_, he reminded himself. She was a vampire who was a handy asset, nothing more.

He followed her down the hall to the elevator. They both stepped inside and Blade pushed the only button in the elevator. The elevator dropped to the only other level. The doors opened to reveal rows and stacks of books, documents, and discs.

Diana went to a stack and examined its contents.

"This must be an archive of some kind. This is probably where they keep their records," Blade said.

"Man, all of this information on the documents and discs could be very helpful in the future." Diana marveled at all of the knowledge the archives held. "Maybe it will be more helpful to you than me. I already know all about the history of vampires."

Blade peered at her curiously. How did she know _all_ about vampire history?

"How old are you exactly?" he asked. Diana turned to him and smiled that flirtatious smile of hers. She walked up to him.

"Let's just say I've been around for awhile," she whispered in a husky voice in his ear. That voice sent shivers down his back, and she knew it. He quickly recovered as she stepped away from him and walked through stacks to the other side of the room. He walked with her to the room where they heard whispering.

"You'll need twelve Purebloods to make the ritual work," came a voice from the room. He heard footsteps. "Krieger, is that you?"

Blade and Diana walked into the room. There sat an obese albino looking vampire. He sat on tatami mats surrounded by computers.

"It's him! He's here!" the vampire squealed.

"This must be Pearl, the records keeper," Blade said. Diana had heard of him, but never seen him before.

"You need me Frost!" Pearl whined.

"Pearl, you're history. Have the good grace to die with some fucking dignity," came a voice from the laptop on a table near Pearl. The person associated with the voice was Frost. Blade turned the laptop over to him. Pearl took that chance to try to delete a document. Diana pulled out her dagger and pointed it at his throat. His arm moved away from the computer.

"Frost," Blade said with disgust.

"Congratulations Blade. I hear you've been looking for me. I'm flattered," he replied. No real enthusiasm showed on his face.

"It'll pass," Blade replied through gritted teeth.

"Hello Diana," Frost said before shutting off the connection. Blade looked to Diana, but she merely shrugged. _More secrets_, he thought.

Diana opened the leather satchel on her shoulder and set up the UV light on the table. Pearl looked at it frightened.

"What's that?" he asked.

"That, biscuit boy, is a UV lamp. We're going to play a game of twenty questions. Depending on your answers, you might walk out of here with a tan. What's that?" He pointed to a screen.

"Oh, that, it's nothing. It's routine research. Actually, it's a video game," Pearl lied. Blade snapped his fingers and Diana turned on the lamp. When Pearl had squealed enough in pain, she turned it off.

"It's a fragment of the Prophecy!" he squeaked.

"Which prophecy?" Blade questioned.

"Uh, I'm not sure. There's so many," Pearl lied again. This time Diana turned the lamp on her own, and left it on for awhile.

"LaMagra is coming! The Spirits of the Twelve will awaken the Blood God!" Pearl said in vampire dialect. Then in English, "And there's nothing you can do about it, Daywalker!"

"Is that so?" Pearl was quiet at that.

"Well, that's what Frost says," he said.

"Uh-huh. Well you won't mind if I borrow this then?" Blade ejected the disk from the computer. He stood up.

"If he moves, fry him," he instructed Diana. He went over to an armored door.

"With pleasure," she said.

"What's in here?" Blade asked. It had to contain something important to be guarded like this.

"It's nothing. Just a storage room," Pearl replied. For a vampire, he was a bad liar.

"Then you won't mind if I take a look," he said. He took an aerosol can and sprayed some foamy liquid on the frame of the door.

"No!" Pearl yelled and lunged from his mat. In the process he knocked over the table with the UV lamp. It clattered to the floor breaking. Blade spun around to see what happened.

He saw Diana standing next to Pearl with her dagger out. Pearl's head slid off then exploded into ash along with his body. Blade stared in astonishment.

"He moved," she said. _This woman is remarkable_, he thought, but then banished the thought from his mind. He didn't have time for that in his life right now.

The chemicals on the door went to work, and there was an explosion.

* * *

**Whew! That was a long one! I'm exhausted.**


	4. Unknown Feelings

**Hey I'm back! With a whole new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blade, but I do own Diana and Horus. Thank you.**

* * *

After the smoke cleared from the explosion, Blade and Diana stepped into the room. In front of them, were glass sliding doors that led into a room full of ancient pages. Diana hurriedly rushed past Blade into the other room. 

She stared in awe at the pages, and lightly traced the ancient glyphs with her finger.

"I guess you already know that these are the pages from the Book of Erebus," he said. Diana absentmindedly nodded, not taking her eyes off one of the pages.

"The vampire bible. It has all the recorded history of their kind," she said. Her eyes fixed on a certain part of the page. "The Spirits of the Twelve will awaken the Blood God," she read aloud. Blade turned to her astonished.

"You can read it? I thought it was a dead language," he asked.

_I wrote part of it_, she wanted to say, but he really didn't need to know that right now. So she just settled for nodding. "Why is Frost so interested in LaMagra?"

Then she heard something. She looked to Blade to see if he heard it too, he nodded and listened more carefully. They could both hear light footsteps. Blade followed the sound, while Diana took her gun out and followed Blade.

He led her to a teenager sitting in a corner.

"Take my hand," he said as he stretched out his arm towards her. Diana felt another presence in the room, and turned around and pulled the trigger. One vampire out of many exploded into ashes. Quinn and Mercury joined the others in the room.

"Hola, amigo. Remember me?" Quinn said.

The teenager started attacking Blade as Diana fought the other vampires. They tried to pin her down, but she was faster and more experienced than they were. She killed five of them in five seconds with her daggers, when she heard a gunshot and she felt pain spread through her left shoulder. She stopped fighting and clutched her shoulder in pain. They had shot her with a silver bullet. Silver couldn't really kill her, but it could weaken her greatly. She dropped to her knees.

Mercury held a knife to her neck and pulled her up. Diana saw that Blade was pinned against a column with wire. She couldn't really help him now.

Quinn removed a glove from one his hands.

"You took my arm, man. But that's okay, I'm growing a new one." Diana looked at his arm. She could see the skeleton and muscles forming, but it wasn't covered by skin yet. "Do you think I'll ever play piano again?" Some of the other vampires laughed at his lame joke. One vampire held up Blade's sword.

"Look! I've got his pigsticker!" Diana and Blade smiled when the blades sprung out the hilt. The blades cut the vampire's hand off. He dropped the sword and the blades sprung back in.

"You're a fuck-up, Crease!" Quinn turned his attention back to Blade. He started punching Blade in the face and in the stomach. When Quinn got tired he stopped.

"Stay with me, sweetness. I'm not through with you yet," Quinn said. Quinn noticed a few stakes strapped to Blade. He took one out and admired it.

"Silver. Nice craftsmanship," he said as he walked over to Diana. "Now this is a man who takes his work a little too seriously, don't you think?" As he spoke he dragged the stake over Diana's chest. She kneed him in the groin. His hand came her way, and she moved to avoid being slapped, and his hand stopped an inch away from Mercury's face. She bared her fangs at him. She dug her nails into Diana's bullet wound. She winced at the pain.

Quinn moved back over to Blade. "Which reminds me, I owe you one, Blade." He drove the stake into Blade's shoulder. Then he drew another stake. "Actually if you want to get technical, I owe you two."

Blade laughed.

"What's so funny?" Quinn asked.

"I'm expecting company," Blade spat out. It was then, that Quinn noticed a small earpiece in Blade's ear.

The wall to the right of them exploded, revealing Whistler with a big gun.

"Catch you fuckers at a bad time?" he asked then started shooting. Diana took advantaged of this distraction. She grabbed Mercury's hand with the knife and twisted it away from her. Mercury dropped the knife and Diana elbowed her in the face and flipped her over her shoulder.

Blade grabbed Diana and pulled her away from Mercury and led her to Whistler. Whistler threw a backpack into the room and they all rushed out.

"You've been listening in the whole time?" she asked clearly pissed off. She was still holding her wounded shoulder.

"We keep radio contact," Blade explained and ripped the stake from his shoulder.

"You think I'd let him run loose without a chaperone?" Whistler asked. A train sped by them. Diana stuck to the side of the walkway with Blade and Whistler right behind her.

The backpack exploded and Whistler was knocked off of the walkway.

"Whistler!" Diana called out.

"He can take care of himself. Now jump!" Blade told her. Once the train cleared they jumped to the second set of tracks.

The vampires appeared in the doorway they had jumped from. They both unholstered their guns and shot at the vampires. Then they heard another train coming and jumped to the walkway on the other side.

Blade saw Quinn and two other vampires make the same jump. Quinn made it but the train hit the other two. Blade and Quinn fought causing them to Diana from the platform and under it. She tried to pull herself up but the space between the platform and the train was narrow. Quinn knocked the sword from Blade's hand and it landed an inch away from Diana. She picked it up and stabbed Quinn through the crotch. He roared in pain as she took the sword out and through it to Blade. He disarmed the booby trap and cut off Quinn's arm. Quinn ran away like a wounded puppy with his tail tucked in between his legs.

Blade quickly pulled Diana up. The train was coming to an end and the vampires weren't that far away.

"Once the train clears, we're screwed," Diana told him. Blade moved her to his left.

"What are you going to do?" she asked. Then she noticed he was staring intently at the train, "Oh my God! You know what you're planning to do is not humanly poss…" her words cut off as Blade lunged and grabbed the end of the train. She helped him pull themselves onto the footplate. She smashed the lock open with her shoulder and opened the door. They tumbled inside the car. Her wound burned with pain. If she took the bullet out now, she would lose a lot of blood. It took awhile for her wounds inflicted by silver to heal.

Diana noticed Blade in pain next to the door. She crouched next to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"My shoulder…it's dislocated," he said in between breaths. She put a hand on his shoulder and he tried to pull away. He was uncomfortable with the contact.

"Let me help you," she said soothingly. He relaxed in her grip. She popped the shoulder into place and he grunted with pain. He took out a tube and the pistol injector she saw Whistler use on him earlier. It looked like he was struggling with it.

"Here, let me give you…" she started but he pulled himself away from her. _Damn, he is too stubborn_, she thought.

"No get away from me," he said. He loaded the tube in the pistol and injected himself. His body shook with pain as she watched him. He saw things click in her eyes.

"You're a vampire?" she thought out loud.

"No, I'm something else," he said. His voice was full of self-loathing. She felt sorry for him. She knew what it was like. She laid down on the opposite set of seats from him. The pain in her shoulder was still throbbing. She closed her eyes and napped all the way to the next stop with Blade's self-hating voice in her mind.

* * *

They arrived at the hideout a few hours later. Blade had immediately gone to his room. He had ignored Diana since the train ride. 

Diana fixed her injury with a special salve she had created centuries ago. Then she took a shower and joined Whistler in the workshop area. She sat across from him as he explained Blade's story.

"I found him when he was thirteen. He had been living on the streets and feeding on the homeless. His need for blood had taken hold at puberty. I took him for a vampire at first, almost killed him too, then I realized what he was. Blade's mother was attacked by a vampire while she was pregnant. She died but he lived. Unfortunately, he had undergone certain genetic changes. He can withstand garlic, silver, even sunlight, and he's got their strength. This time tomorrow, all those wounds of his will be healed. He stages like a human though. See, vampires age slower then humans," Whistler explained.

_I know_, Diana thought.

"Unfortunately, he also inherited their thirst," he continued.

"I thought the serum was supposed to suppress that," she said.

"Time's running out. His body's starting to reject it, and so far all my efforts to find a cure have failed."

Diana thought over all the things Whistler told her. She should have been able to sense it. _Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age_, she thought.

"Why do you hunt them?" she asked curiously. She understood why Blade hunted vampires, but the old man never once mentioned why he did it.

"I had a family once, a wife and two daughters. Then a drifter came calling one evening, a vampire. He toyed with them first, tried to make me decide which order they die in. We kill as many of them as we can find, but it's getting worst."

"Because of Frost," she added.

"There's something happening in the vampire ranks, something big. And I'll stake my life that that son of a bitch is at the center of it."

Whistler turned away from her, telling her that the conversation was over. She stood up and walked out of the room. She pondered over everything that happened. It was amazing they didn't kill her for revenge for what happened to them.

She walked over to Blade's room. It was dark and gloomy. He was sitting in chair facing the window. She called out to him.

"Blade," she said softly. He ignored her as usual. She stepped into the room and sat on a nearby table.

"Whistler told me what happened. He told me what you are." She tried talking to him about the subject.

"You don't know me. You don't anything about me," he said harshly. Diana was surprised.

"I'm not human," he said quietly.

"You look human to me."

"So do you. Humans don't drink blood," he argued.

"That was a long time ago. Maybe you should let that go," she said reasonably.

Blade glared at her. She didn't get it.

"Everytime I cut down one of those monsters, I get a piece of that life back. So don't you talk to me about forgetting." He turned away from her.

Diana nibbled on her lip in irritation. She still had to drink blood. She had tried to make a serum many times, but the virus had prevented it. She walked over to him and crouched down to look straight into his eyes.

"You can go ahead and keep all that anger. I understand that you're angry and upset over what happened. But just know this, the vampire that did this to you doesn't care. He or she is probably proud, dead, or getting good day's sleep. Holding onto to that anger will do nothing but eat at you. The vampire isn't bothered about what happened to you. Just know that," she stated and left the room.

Blade stared after her. She did have a point, but what she didn't understand was that he used that anger to do his daily job.

* * *

Whistler and Diana were unloading boxes from a truck when Blade came out of his room. He noticed that Diana was carrying twice as much as Whistler. 

Blade went over to Whistler and handed him a pieced of paper from the archives.

"What's this?" Whistler sniffed it. "Smells like a vampire wiped his ass with it."

"I took it from the archives.

"It's written in blood," Whistler noticed.

"It's from the Book of Erebus. I think it's what Frost's been working on," Blade replied.

"It says something about the Blood God and the Spirits of the Twelve. I don't know. I can't make out the rest of it."

"Maybe this'll help," Blade said as he handed Whistler the disk he took from Pearl. "I think Diana can help you."

"I'll figure out something."

"What's all this?" Blade asked.

"We took a trip to the hospital last night and borrowed some equipment," she said as she set some boxes down on a table.

"For your miracle cure?" he said sarcastically. Diana's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She walked over to a table and picked up a bottle filled with blue liquid.

"This is EDTA. It's an anticoagulant. It's used to treat blood clots. Now look at what happens when I introduce it to a sample of vampire blood." She took a syringe filled with the blue liquid and squeezed it onto a slide under a microscope. She stepped back a little.

"Take a step back the reaction's energetic," she warned. Blade took off his sunglasses and looked through. The red blood cells were reacting violently. He moved away just as it blew it up.

Whistler chuckled and Diana smiled. Blade just looked annoyed.

"Some cure," he grumbled.

"I didn't say EDTA was a cure. You can use it to kill vampires." (A/N: The original line sounded so corny.) She still had that amused look on her face.

"Wait a minute, I need a sample of your blood," she told him as she reached for a kit.

"Later, I'm going downtown. I need more serum."

"Serum can wait. This is more important," Whistler said. He limped away and started coughing

Diana led Blade into a chair. She found vein and inserted a needle. The vacutainer began to fill. She noticed that Whistler's coughing was getting worse.

"Is he sick?" she asked.

"Cancer," was all that Blade said. His face didn't show any emotion.

"You know, my mom used to say that a cold heart is a dead heart," she commented.

"Your mom sounds like a Hallmark greeting card," was his smart-ass reply.

"She was born before the company was even thought of, jackass," she growled. She took the needle out and discarded it.

Blade got up and put his jacket on as Whistler limped back over to her.

"Ow, Damnit!" Whistler shouted. They both turned to look at him. He had cut his hand on a piece of broken glass. Diana's eyes were fixated on the cut, and she felt her canines elongate. She hadn't fed in a while. Whistler didn't notice she was staring, but Blade did.

She quickly looked up to see Blade studying her. She pushed past him to the bathroom. Whistler looked up to see what was wrong.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," Blade replied and followed Diana into the bathroom. He stayed out of sight and surveyed the sight in front of him.

Diana had a death grip on the sink. Through her reflection he could see that her eyes were blue again. He had gathered that when her eyes were blue was when she went into "vampire mode".

She moved her hair (now curly, from when she took a shower) to her right side to reveal an old scar on her neck. She stroked it sadly. He walked in and she turned around. Her eyes looked sad.

"What do you want, Blade?" she asked.

He grabbed her jaw gently and tilted it to the side to see the better. It looked really old.

"That's not from Quinn's bite," he said as he let go of her jaw.

"No shit. It's from when I was turned into a vampire." She moved to exit, but he grabbed her arm.

"What happened?" he asked. He realized that he knew nothing about her. She looked impatient.

"My first husband turned me, alright?" She jerked free from his grip.

"You hate being a vampire," he realized. There was a pain in her eyes that reminded him of himself.

"It's not that I hate it. I just don't like it that much. The way I was turned ruined my whole life." She said more than she should have. He didn't need to know about her issues.

"Do you drink blood?" When she looked away, he got the answer he needed.

"I've tried to make a serum, but my body doesn't tolerate. So I stick to blood banks. Vampires have somewhat of an all-access-pass to them."

"So we're not that different."

"Yep. Well I have somewhere to go. I'll leave in a few minutes and be back in about an hour. But I need to talk to Whistler first," she said and left the room. Well, it was a start. He would get more information later.

* * *

**Fast-Forward to Truck Scene**

Diana had been awake for some time, and was waiting for Blade to come around. They had tranquilized her with a small dose of silver nitrate on her way to a blood bank. When he finally awoke, she relaxed.

"I need my serum. Maybe when we get out of this, I'll take that miracle cure of yours," he said weakly. He looked tired.

"There's one catch. If it works, you'll lose your strength and your ability to regenerate. You'll be completely human." Diana could see the disappointment in his eyes and felt bad.

The truck came to a sudden stop. The doors opened and some guards took them out of the truck. Diana and Blade struggled but they were still weak. They were tossed down a chute and picked up by other guards. They were led down a hall that led to a huge room that looked like Ancient Egyptian temple. Deacon, Quinn, and Vanessa were waiting for them.

"Blade, Diana, glad you could make it," Deacon said. He was facing the other way.

"Hey man, thanks for the shades," Quinn said as he tilted them.

"Our ancestors called this place, The Temple of Eternal Night. Nice, isn't it? Apparently these geniuses forgot it ever existed." Deacon gestured to the Vampire Council. Diana recognized some of them, but she usually didn't care too much about the other race of vampires.

"Fortunately for us, I'm, what you might call, a student of history." He walked over to Blade. "Why are we here? This temple was built for one glorious moment. This night, for the Blood God."

Suddenly, Quinn came over and punched Blade in the face. The impact made him fall to his knees. Deacon turned around.

"Thanks. Now let's see this sword of yours." Mercury unsheathed the sword and threw it to Deacon, who caught it.

"Titanium, right? Acid-etched? I could get used to a weapon like this." He swung it around a few times, and then pressed a button on the sword. Blade look surprised at this.

"What? You look surprised. I told you, Blade. I know everything about you. Hold out your arm, Quinn."

"Why man? Cause, it's like all better now," he stammered.

"Hold out your arm! Now!" Deacon said a little more forcefully.

"But, Deek, I…" he stopped and reluctantly held out his arm.

Frost raised the sword to swing then stopped.

"Just kidding," he said. Quinn pulled his arm back and laughed nervously.

Diana saw that Blade was getting weaker.

"Blade," she whispered but Frost still heard them.

"He can't hear you, honey. The Thirst has got him now." Quinn handed him the group of serum injectors that Blade had. But instead of serum, there was EDTA in them.

"What do we have here? Your precious serum? How long has it been since you last shot up? Twelve-thirteen hours maybe? I bet you're just dying for a drink. What's it feel like? Is your blood on fire?" he teased.

"Try some. You might like it," Blade replied weakly.

"Thanks but I prefer the real thing. In any event, I don't think you'll be needing these anymore." And he tossed them over the edge.

"It's a shame, you know. When I think of what you've become. What you should've become. I don't blame you. I mean with everything that's happened, it's the human side that's made you weak. You should have listened to your blood."

"Say what you want, but I promise you'll be dead by dawn," Blade snarled.

"Oooh," Quinn teased pretending to be scared. Then a man walked. He was of tall stature and had brown eyes and black hair, but his skin was tan. He had several tattoos on hi arms. Diana's body went numb with shock when she saw. He smiled at her.

"Horus," Blade heard her whisper. She must know him.

"It's nice to see you again, Dyania. It's been what, 6,000 years?" he said.

"6,839 years to be exact. You bastard! What are you doing here?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Thought I stop by and see how you were doing," he said playfully. She just wanted to snap his neck in half.

"You know her?" Deacon asked.

"Yeah, I used to be married to her. I was her first husband and she was my first wife," he answered. Blade's head snapped up. This was the guy who turned her.

"Nevertheless, it's a nice family reunion. I have plans for these two that needed to be carried out. Get Blade out of here." The guards took Blade down a corridor.

"Hold on. I'll take 'Diana' here out your hands. We have some things to catch up on," Horus said.

"Sure. My plans were to throw her to a zombie, but I don't really care. She's all yours." The guards threw Diana to him and he caught her. He stroked her hair softly.

"I missed you baby," he said in her ear. She kneed him in the groin. He slapped her in the face hard.

"I'm sorry baby, but you made me do it," Horus said sweetly. He picked her up. "If you struggle, I'll be forced to hurt you." Her body remained still. He carried her down a hall into another room. It held ancient artifacts and a few benches. He set her down on one.

He held up one artifact.

"Recognize this?" he asked. In his hand he held a sword with a crystal hilt and a silver blade with ancient markings on it.

"It's my mother's sword. That's where it went! I've been looking for it for centuries!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, well I thought to keep it as a souvenir. It always reminded me of you. I missed you so much after you left." He sat down next to her.

"You know why I left," she growled and tried to scoot away, but he grabbed and held her still. She noticed that her daggers were on the floor under the bench.

He pushed her so that she was lying down on the bench. He got on top of her and started kissing her. She hated it because he was disgusting and forceful.

She reached for a dagger. As he kept on kissing her and she cut her binds loose. She brought the dagger up and stabbed Horus on his side. He cried out and fell off the bench.

Diana wiped her mouth off. She hated the son of a bitch. She stuck her daggers in her waistband and picked up her mother's sword. She ran out of the room. She went down the corridor Blade was taken to. Thankfully, it only led to one room.

In the middle room lay a huge stone. She went up to it and turned it. All of a sudden, the two slabs separated from each other, revealing Blade. He looked ashen from the blood loss. She laid her sword down, took out a dagger, and cut away his leather restraints. He fell in her arms. His weight brought her down.

"Blade?" He didn't respond. She checked his wounds. They had drained most of the blood out of him.

"Gotta stop… Gotta stop it," he managed to get out.

"Save your strength. You're hypovolemic. You're bleeding to death," she said. She hoped that he didn't die.

"Need…serum," he muttered. They didn't have the serum with them right now. So they were going to have to improvise. Diana moved her hair to the side. She lifted him up a little bit and held him there.

"Blade? Blade!" She tried to keep him awake. "Listen to me. I want you to take some of my blood."

"No, no. I don't want to hurt you," he said and tried to push her away, but she held on to him. She smiled at the fact that he cared enough not to hurt her.

"Look, just do it. The only way you can defeat Frost is by drinking my blood." He looked at her weakly, and she caressed his cheek softly. "I'm a vampire. I'll be fine." He still tried to pull away from her. Diana had another idea.

She leaned into Blade and brought her face close to his. She kissed him softly. He responded and wrapped his arms around her and brought her closer. She deepened the kiss and wrapped her arms around hi neck. She was getting sidetracked. She bit her tongue and let the blood flow to Blade's mouth. He didn't try to pull away this time. He greedily drank the blood, but then the wound closed up. He broke the kiss and moved down to her neck. He bit and she moaned.

He kept on drinking her blood. The taste was amazing as the Thirst died down. He was vaguely aware that Diana's arms loosened around his neck. He was holding onto her as he drank more from her. He could hear undead heart beating. It was getting lower and distant. He came back to the present and broke away.

Diana's eyes were glassy and blue. She was breathing hard. _Thank you_, Blade thought in his mind. She was slowly regaining conscious. When she blinked her eyes and looked around, Blade knew she was going to be okay.

"Diana, are you alright?" He shook her gently. She sat up and looked around.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I gotta go. I have some unfinished business to take care of. Are you going to be okay?" she asked. He nodded. She slowly got up. She picked up her sword and dagger, and with one last look to Blade, ran out of the room.

She snuck back to the main part of the temple. Downstairs, Frost was drawing souls from the vampire elders.

She quickly dispatched the vampire and familiar guards on her level. Then she heard a high-pitched scream come from the corridor she just left. She had seen Vanessa go in there. Blade must have killed her. _Poor Blade. He's been through so much_.

Blade rushed past her, and leapt off the edge. She saw him land on the platform below.

"Well, well, well. Look who fell for the hybrid," came a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw Horus looking angry. He also had a sword in his hand, which didn't make matters any better.

She raised her mother's sword in a defensive position.

"Oh, I'm not going to attack you just yet. I have a little something to tell you first." Diana kept her sword up but still listened.

"You're adopted," he said.

"I already know that."

"Yeah, but what you don't know is that your birth mother is the starter of our race. You're the daughter who was born human but with extra abilities. You're twin brother told me so himself."

Diana froze. She had never heard about what happened to her real parents, but this was big news.

"You're lying."

"Ask your brother. Oh, I forgot. You don't know who he is because your mother gave you up."

That's when Diana attacked him. He blocked her easily. He swung, and she blocked. They got this routine going, but he soon got bored. He started fighting her with increased speed and she had to move faster to keep up.

Horus could see that she was tiring. Her movements were slower. She took his observation period for granted and slashed across the cheek. He stopped and she backed away.

He looked down and touched his face. His eyes were blue as he looked back up. He licked the blood off his fingertips. He was pissed off now. He lunged across the area.

Diana barely had enough time to bring her sword up to defend herself. She was tired. She hadn't been able to feed, and then Blade had taken a lot of her blood.

"How does it feel to know that your own brother was responsible for turning me into a vampire?" Horus asked. He was playing with fire, but an angry person was a careless point. It worked.

She whirled around (as she did he secretly took one of her daggers) and swung for his neck. He blocked that with her dagger and stabbed her through the heart with his sword. She gasped. Horus pushed her off his sword and she fell onto the platform below with Blade. He had just vanquished Frost/La Magra.

Blade saw Diana's body fall and her sword fell down right next to her. He didn't see what was wrong until he saw the blood beginning to pool around her. He walked over to her and sat next to her. He picked her up and checked her pulse. There was none. She was gone.

Grief ran through Blade. Just as he was starting to care about her, she died. He thought she was a supreme being and could take care of herself. He guessed it was her time to go.

Horus jumped down after her on the other side. He looked happy with the sword in his hand.

"Congratulations on defeating Frost and nailing my girl. She was a slut to begin with, but she was a sweetheart. Too bad she's dead, huh?" he said mockingly. Blade could see why Diana didn't like him. He was a sadistic psychopath.

Blade stood up and got ready to fight this guy. Horus came at him first. They fought for about a minute, before Horus overpowered Blade and kicked him to the edge of the platform. Diana's body was right behind Horus.

"Now to finish you off. I was getting bored any…" he was stopped short by the dagger poking out of his chest. Blade saw that behind him Diana was sitting up. She was alive, but she looked disheveled. Horus fell to the ground. He was dead. Blade walked over and took the dagger out. He went over to Diana and took her into his arms. She relaxed against him as he picked her up.

"How are you still alive?" he asked her. She closed her eyes for a second then opened them.

"Silver can harm me, but it can't kill me. I'm so tired," she muttered weakly.

"You lost a lot of blood from that injury, and from me taking your blood. I'm sorry Diana," he said and held her closer.

"Don't blame yourself. Blame Frost," she said. That managed to get a smile from him. She was getting sleepy, so she closed her eyes. Blade was immediately alarmed.

"Stay awake, Diana," he shook her gently.

"It hurts," she whispered. He assumed she was talking about her injury. She was stabbed through the heart. Of course it would hurt.

Blade took the elevator to the top level of the temple. He climbed a ladder to the rooftop, while still carrying Diana.

"Can you put me down? I think I can stand," she said.

"No, you need blood first," he said. The way he said it, made Diana think that Blade might have feelings for her.

"We've gotta get back to the lab if I'm going to cure you," she told him. He looked down at her. It was amazing that she was putting him first even though she was injured.

"Keep your cure. If you want to help, make me a better serum. There's still a war out there." Diana nodded and closed her eyes. She unconsciously snuggled in closer to him.

"Come on, Diana. Stay awake."

"I don't want to. I wanna sleep!" she argued.

Blade looked out and found the parking lot. He carried Diana to the parking lot. He put her on the passenger side of the truck. As he looked for the keys in the driver's seat, Diana focused on staying awake. It was tempting to fall asleep and never wake up.

"Blade, I've been alive for thousands of years. Dying seems like heaven right now," she said. Blade stared at her.

"You're not dying. You won't die," he said. Diana then understood. _He doesn't want me to die_. Blade found the keys and started the car. He drove down the street, while trying to maintain a conversation with Diana.

"Blade, what happened to Whistler? The vampires said they killed, but you know how vampires are."

"They did kill him. That's why I went after them."

"I'm sorry about Whistler," she said sympathetically.

"Me too. Was Horus the one that turned you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said and turned away from him. She clearly didn't to talk about it. Tough, she pried into his life; it was only fair that he returned the favor.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he didn't want me to leave him." Blade's eyes widened. How twisted was this guy?

They finally arrived at the hideout, and Diana was getting weaker. Blade went over to her side.

"Diana, you need to take some of my blood." She shook her head.

"No, there are consequences," she managed to get out before passing out.

"Crap." He unsheathed his sword and cut a vein on his wrist. He put it up to Diana's mouth. She was too weak to protest. She licked the blood from his wrist. She gripped it and drank more. After a few more seconds, she let go. She had more control than he did.

He lifted her out the seat and carried her to his bedroom. He laid her down on the bed, and let her sleep.

When he went back to the main workshop, he realized that Whistler's body was gone. He would find it later. First he had other things to do. While Diana slept, he packed up their stuff, got some blood, and other things.

* * *

Diana woke up sore. Her whole body ached. She noticed that her wound had been bandaged. _That must have been embarrassing for Blade_. She also noticed that on a nearby table were a mug and her backpack. She slowly sat up and got out of bed. She was a little dizzy but she made it across the room. She saw that the mug was full of blood. She drank it and instantly fell better. 

She rummaged through her backpack for an outfit. She found a tank top, stretch pants, and underwear. She took a long leisurely shower, and afterwards took off her bandages.

She went back into the room to see Blade there looking for you. He didn't seem to notice that she was in the doorway.

"Looking for me?" she asked. He turned around and relaxed when he saw that she was alright.

"How are you feeling?" he seemed genuinely concerned.

"I'm going to be okay. Thanks to you," she said. Now, Blade looked a little uncomfortable.

"You save my life. I was just returning the favor," Blade said. He said it like it was nothing.

"But you didn't have to. You say you're not human, but deep down you're more human than you think. And please don't give me that hybrid crap again. You're human, accept it," she stated.

"What happened with Horus?" he asked. Diana walked over and sat on the bed.

"When I was fifteen, I fell I love with him. My parents refused to let me marry him. I didn't understand why and didn't care. Since they adopted me, I felt that their thoughts didn't matter. Now thinking back on it, they probably knew what he was. Anyway, to marry him I did what any girl would do," she explained.

"What?"

"I slept with him. Then we went to the Pharaoh and he declared that we had to marry. We did. On our wedding night, he showed me what he was. I was scared and fled to my parents' home. They took me back in. But, Horus followed me and killed them. He killed my whole family and captured me. He kept me captive for a hundred years, before I was able to escape. Then another vampire, from the opposite species, took me in and trained me. Then I flew solo. I created a clan for vampires that were turned against their will. Then I lived my life. Last night in the temple, Horus told me I had a twin brother. And that he was turned by him. That's my story."

"I'm sorry," was all Blade could say. His life was nothing compared to hers.

"It wasn't your fault. It was mine. I was young and stupid. But now I have to find my brother. That is, if he's still alive."

"Wait a minute you said pharaoh. How old are you?"

"I'm 6,984 years old," she responded and looked for reaction.

"Holy sh—!"

* * *

**Wat do u think? Please review!**


	5. Giving In

**Hey this is shorter than the last chapter, but I wrote this in one day.**

**Hope you guys like it! XOXO**

* * *

A few months later

The man with the long leather trench coat drove into his hideout. He had relocated to Moscow, Russia to hunt the high-ranked vampires. He parked the car and headed to the target room.

There was a woman in the room shooting at a target. She had earphones on and she was listening to her Walkman (A/N: I don't think iPods were invented then). She was dancing slightly to the music. Even with her music on, she could hear the man enter the room. She turned around and smiled.

"Hey Blade," Diana said cheerfully. He regarded her with silence. Diana rolled her eyes and turned back to her target. She had emptied the entire clip between the cardboard figure's eyes. She smiled smugly. She was a good shot.

"Вы убили его? (Did you kill you him?)" she asked.

"да (Yes)", he replied. She turned her head to stare at him for a second.

"Вы опросили его? (Did you interrogate him?)" she asked.

"нет (No). I didn't feel like it," was his response. She chewed on her lip in annoyance.

"Сусло, котор вы всегда убиваете и никогда не спрашиваете! Вы будете справедливыми делая вещами более трудными для себя! (Must you always kill and never ask! You are just making things harder for yourself!)" she said.

"I must also be making things harder for you, judging by the way you're acting," he said with a smirk.

"Damn it, Blade! I'm trying to find my brother, and the vampire might have known him!" she said with fury.

"If _you_ wanted to question him why didn't _you_ come with me and interrogate him?" he asked pointedly.

"I've been too busy perfecting a certain someone's serum. By the way, how is the temporary one holding up?"

"Fine."

"You're lying." Diana put her Walkman and gun on the table and towards Blade.

"You don't look so good. Come on, it's time for your next shot," she said as she walked out the room towards the main workshop area.

She picked up the pistol injector from the medical cabinet and loaded it with 10mL of her new serum. She motioned for Blade to sit down in the restraint. He did so, reluctantly of course.

"Is this another one of your experimental serums?" he asked.

"Yes, but it's an improved version. If you're lucky, it should be your new serum," she explained. She walked behind and pressed a button on the back of the chair. Metal bars bound Blade's arms and legs to the chair.

"This might hurt more than the last one, so brace yourself." With that, she injected him. When the capsule was empty she pulled injector out and set it on the table. She leaned against the table and relaxed. Then she entered his mind. She could feel that he was in agony. She focused and transferred some of his pain to her.

Blade felt the pain from the injection ease away. He looked over to Diana to see that she was doubled over in pain. She was breathing hard with her hand covering her eyes. Finally, the pain in both of them went away.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she replied. _Back to the drawing board_, she thought.

_Not entirely. It feels better than the last one. It might last longer_, Blade responded.

"Stop going through my head," she told him.

"I didn't. It just popped up into my head," Blade said.

Since the temple incident, they shared a blood bond. He had drunken her blood to revive himself, and then when she was dying he gave her his blood to heal her. She had told him not to give her his blood, but he didn't listen. They had shared blood in the blood bonding time period. Now they could read each other's minds, share feelings (both physical and mental), and send telepathic messages to each other. Diana had showed Blade how to put up a mental block, so that he could shield himself from her, if he wanted.

"Hey, meet me in the training room when you recover fully," she ordered him.

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to train you in sword fighting."

"I already know how to fight with a sword."

"But you're not that good at it."

"Excuse me." Blade obviously didn't like being criticized.

"In the temple, you only lasted a minute against Horus," Diana pointed out.

"And your point is," he growled.

"I lasted 15." Blade glared at her. He etched out the words for her.

"I am not going," he declared.

Diana walked over to him and took his sunglasses off. She stared him in the eye, her face close to his.

"Oh, you're going," she stated. "And you're not leaving this chair until you say that you are. Plus I make can you go." She walked away and set his sunglasses down on a table.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" he asked.

She smiled at him seductively and said, "Oh, I have ways." She slinked over to the chair and walked behind it. She draped her arms over his neck, and put her lips close to his ear.

"Think over this closely, Blade. You're restrained to a chair and have no way of fending me off. There are a number of things I could do to you in this chair. And most of them are pleasurable."

Blade grinded his teeth together. This wasn't fair. She was using her "womanly wiles" to get what she wanted.

"No, I'm not going." Maybe she was bluffing.

"Nothing will change your mind? Not even this?" she said as she lightly nipped his ear. She felt his body stiffen.

"Diana, stop it," Blade said through gritted teeth.

"Stop what?" she asked innocently. She ran her tongue around the tip of his ear.

"You know what!" he said.

"I really don't." She trailed her lips down his neck. She could see that he was breathing hard. She was shocked to find out that he liked it. When she started running her tongue in circles around on his neck, his mind finally snapped.

"Fine! I'll do it!" he shouted. He would do anything to get her to stop.

"What was that?" she asked. She couldn't but draw it out a little longer.

"I'll let you train me."

"In what?" she asked.

"Diana!"

"Alright, alright!" She got up and pressed the button on the back of the chair to release him.

"Be there in five minutes," she said. She went to her room and quickly changed into stretch pants and a tank top. She walked over to the wall in her bedroom. She placed her hand on the wall. She heard a little beep as a small compartment on the wall slid open. In it laid her sword. She picked it up and closed the compartment.

* * *

Blade walked into the training room to see Diana practicing swings with her sword. He stood in the doorway and watched her. 

"Were you planning on coming in or just stare at me?" she asked.

"I was studying your form," Blade replied. "Not bad."

"I was warming up. Not that I really need to to defeat you."

"We'll see about that."

They circled each other on the mat. Blade attacked first. Diana blocked easily. He swung again, and this time Diana blocked then swung her sword in a circle. Blade's sword flew up in the air and Diana caught it. She finished with crossing both swords next to Blade's neck.

"In a real fight against a vampire my age, you'd already be dead," she said. She uncrossed the swords and handed Blade his.

"Okay, so I do need more training. Happy now?" Blade said with annoyance.

"Yes. You can stop holding your breath now. Today I just wanted to find where you are in fighting. We're done here," she said.

"Really?" Blade was shocked. He thought it was going to be longer.

"Really," she answered.

"What's the real reason?" he asked. He knew her too well.

"I've been up all night, so I'm going to take a nap," she said. Blade knew what she was talking about. Since Diana can go in the sun, she doesn't sleep during the day. And since all the action happened at night, her choice to stay awake at both times was to take naps a few times a day.

"Yeah, because I bet seducing restrained guys must be very tiring," he remarked.

"So does putting up with arrogant assholes. Besides, you know you liked it," she said as she walked out of the room.

"I did not and you can't prove it!" he told her.

She turned around and smiled at him.

"I don't have to. I saw it for myself." She winked at him and left.

Blade cursed under his breath. This woman had been affecting since he met her. She was what his human side craved for, and what his hunter side despised. He didn't know how to do deal with her. A lot of times she would be flirty and other times she would be demanding and cold. Surprisingly, he liked both sides.

He thought back to their kiss in the temple. She had only done it t get him to drink her blood, but he knew that they both enjoyed it. Neither of them talked about it afterwards.

* * *

_He threw her against a wall. She hit hard and slumped to the floor crying. He pulled out a dagger and advanced on her. She tried to crawl away but he grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him. She kicked and screamed, but he held onto her. He grabbed her left shoulder and started carving an owl hieroglyph with his dagger. She screamed in pain and saw her blood run down her arm. When he finished he stood up and wiped the dagger off._

"_There, now you have something to remind you of me whenever you think about running away again. Next time you attempt to run away, I will do something much worse. Do you know why I drew an owl?" Horus said._

"_Because you are a sick bastard!" Dyania shouted. He backhanded her so hard she flew across the room._

"_No, because now you know that I will always be watching you." With that he left her alone in her dungeon cell. She huddled in a corner crying out in anguish._

"Diana!" Blade was trying to shake her awake. He had been interrupted in his meditating by her screaming.

Diana's eyes snapped open, and the next thing Blade knew he was on the bed with Diana on top of him with a dagger pressed to his neck.

"Oh, it's just you," Diana breathed a sigh of relief and removed her dagger away from his neck.

"Who exactly were you expecting?" Blade asked in annoyance.

"No one. Wait a minute, what are you doing here? You are not allowed in my room. It was locked," Diana asked.

"Umm," Blade started. Diana looked behind her. Her door was on the floor. She turned back to Blade.

"You broke my door down!"

"Well, as you said yourself, your door was locked. Plus you were screaming at the top of your lungs, so I thought something was wrong. Can you get off of me now?" he asked. Diana hopped off of him and stood glaring at him. He got off her bed and brushed himself off.

"What were you dreaming about that made you scream so loud?"

"Nothing," she said and unconsciously rubbed her left shoulder. Blade grabbed her by the arm and looked at her shoulder. There was a faint scar of a hieroglyph on it.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's nothing," she replied. She didn't want to remember the pain that came with the memory.

"You're lying," he told her. She jerked her arm out his grasp.

"There are some things that I like to keep to myself; things that are none of your concern. Now get out," she said angrily.

"Fine, but you might want to think about getting a soundproof door. That way I won't be bothered by your bloody murder screams," he said as he left her room. With a wave of her hand, the door repaired itself and was set into the doorway. She took in deep breath and reminded herself that the memory happened a long time ago and Horus was now dead. She rubbed the scar and sighed. Some memories never went away.

* * *

A few hours later

Blade entered the main area to hear Diana talking on her cell phone. He eavesdropped on her call.

"What do you mean you can't find anything on him! He's the son of our creator! How the hell can you not know who he is!" she shouted. Blade could hear the person on the other side whimpering.

"Fine, call a council meeting for next month. Make the rendezvous point my headquarters in Paris, France. Maybe the others know more than I do. Alright, bye," she said and ended the call. She set her cell down on a nearby table.

"Still can't find any information on your brother?" Blade asked.

"Not anything I already knew. He was born in Egypt just like me, but I don't know if he was raised there. He probably was if Horus knew him. Horus remained in Egypt for as long as I was there. He barely ever left. Maybe the key to finding my brother is Horus, but he's dead." She was talking more to herself than to Blade.

"Horus also had a clan, but they more underground. The council refused his request for one because he was to sadistic and evil. I could contact them, but they would just try to kill me. After all, I did kill their leader."

"What council? I heard you talking about it over the phone?" he asked.

"Twelve of the oldest vampires, including myself, organized a council 5,000 years ago. We control what happens in the vampire ranks. Each of us has our own clan, and we also grant others the right to create theirs. Every year, we get together in a meeting to discuss the next year's plans. We can also call emergency meetings for important dealings. Some of them are older than me, which means my mother or my brother either turned them. Either way, they know who he is, and it's possible they've known who I am."

Diana sighed. She was still on square one until the council meeting.

"So the council meeting's in Paris?" Blade asked. Diana's eyes went wide. He shouldn't have heard that.

"Blade, no! You are not coming with me on this trip! It's restricted to Council Member's only. Not even our bodyguard's are allowed inside the meeting room."

"Who ever said I was going with you?" he said smugly.

"You're not sneaking in either. The place is crawling with security that the Council trained itself, and I will not hesitate to call them on you," she declared. Blade raised his eyebrow as if challenging her.

"Blade, there is no way you can defeat them if you can't even take _me_ down. Besides, if you want to find information in the archives about the vampires you hunt, all you had to do was ask me. When I go to the meeting, I'll stop by the archives and make photocopies of the history pertaining to your race," she said. Blade stared at her dumbfounded.

"How did you…" he started.

"I'm not a simpleton, Blade. I'm very good at picking up on things. Plus, I can read you like a book."

"Huh. What are you going to do until the meeting?"

"I have plenty of things to busy myself with. Chaperoning you, finding a better serum, making new weapons, I might even find myself a new boyfriend," she said jokingly. Blade scowled.

"Seriously, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I probably should stay out of sight for awhile. Horus's clan might be after me." Right on cue, the lights went out.

"Shit! They already found us!" Diana grabbed a gun off a nearby table and loaded it. Blade unholstered a MACH. Diana went to one of the nearby computers and typed in a code. Four camera screens popped up.

"There are atleast four of them," she said and switched the cameras to infrared. "They're vampires; my kind." Then all cameras went out.

"Shit! What are we going to do? We don't know where they are," Blade asked.

"Give me more credit than that." Diana raised her gun and squeezed the trigger four times in different directions. The bodies of the intruders fell to the floor.

"When I set up the security system, I made sure that there was only one point where each camera could be disconnected. Then I memorized the positions." She turned back to the computer and started typing on the keyboard. The lights came back on.

Diana felt something. She felt a tingling from the back of her spine.

"There are more outside," she deadpanned.

"How the hell do you know that?" Blade was becoming wary of her.

"I can feel it. We have to get out of here!" She typed a few more commands in the computer. The hideout began locking down. The windows, the exits, and entrances were all covered by blast doors.

"We need to hurry and get out of here. The blast doors should hold them off for awhile," she explained as she got up.

"What do you mean 'should'?" Blade asked. He didn't exactly know that much about her race.

"They're incredibly strong. Even I could break through those doors. We have five minutes. Pack your essentials and shut down the computers," she ordered as she ran to her room. She quickly packed her clothes, weapons, and other important items. She ran out to meet Blade in the main area. He was packed and ready to go. She threw a bomb next to the main entrance. She opened a secret passage in the floor. They both jumped down and Blade locked it. They followed the passage to a garage. There was Blade's Charger. They got in (Blade in the driver's seat, of course) and threw their stuff in the back. Diana opened the panel she had installed into the car and pressed one of the buttons. The platform, that the car was on, rose to ground level. It was a little light outside. Sunrise would be in about 15 minutes.

They drove pass the cars surrounding the hideout. Diana pulled a remote out of her pocket. Once they were far enough, she pressed the trigger on the remote.

Neither looked back as the hideout exploded. Blade kept on driving as Diana called someone on her cell.

"Hey, did anyone trace our call?" she said into the phone.

On the other side of the phone, her contact had a gun pointed to his head.

"No, I'm positive they didn't. I sent you an untraceable cell." He tried to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Then how did they find me?" she demanded.

"I-I don't know. I'll get it on it right away!" he stammered.

"Diana, we're being followed," Blade whispered to her. She looked in the mirror to see two cars following them.

"Who was that?" her contact asked.

"Nobody. Get on it right away!" she ordered.

"Ok! Where are you?" he asked.

Diana promptly hung up the phone and tossed it out the window.

"My contact sent me a regular cell phone. He set me up," she explained to Blade. "We need a plan."

"Do you have a house around here?" he asked.

"Umm, let me think. I have one about ten miles from here, but it's in a forest," she told him. He looked at her incredulously.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"It's the only place we have to go right now. We have to go there."

"We need to lose these two tailies first," he pointed out. "I have a plan. You see those woods over there?" He gestured outside her window to the woods off the highway.

"Yeah, what are thinking?" she asked warily.

"Can you find your way to the house from there?" he asked.

"I believe so, yes."

"Ok, then." He made sharp right turn and drove straight for the woods. The other two cars followed him. He finally reached the forest and they drove through narrow paths. He sharply dodged trees, and in the process jerking Diana around in her seat.

"Who the hell taught you how to drive? Never mind, I don't want to know," she said through gritted teeth. He made another sharp turn making Diana bang her head on the window.

"Shit! That's it! Move over! I'm driving!" she ordered as she reached back into her bag for a gun, and two small grenades.

"Diana, this is not the time for your control game," Blade warned.

"I know how to lose them, now move!" Blade and Diana unbuckled their seat belts and switched seats quickly. Diana immediately took over the wheel. She rolled down her window and wheeled the car around. She shot each car once, and turned the car back on the road.

She drove to a more open area, and the cars were able to pull up right next to her.

"Diana, what are you doing?" Blade asked.

"Just trust me, Blade," she said calmly. The guys in their cars raised their guns to point at her and Blade. She suddenly braked and the guys shot each other instead of Blade and Diana. Their cars went off a cliff and sank down to the bottom of a river.

"What did you shoot?" Blade asked. She turned to smile at him.

"I shot their brakes out," she said smugly and got out of the car. She walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the river. She saw bodies swimming to the surface. She aimed carefully and shot each person in the head. Blade also got out of the car to see what she was doing.

"Blade, make a left and follow the path all the way to clearing. You'll recognize it because it has one stone next to each tree. I'll meet you there," she told him.

"What are you going to do?" he asked her as she put her hair in a ponytail.

"Take care of the cars. They have tracking devices on them," she tucked her gun into the back of her jeans. Blade reached out to brush a strand away from her face and lingered there for a second.

"Be careful," was all he said and walked away. She watched him drive off down the path. Then she turned to focus on her current mission.

She dove off the cliff and into the river. She swam all the way to the bottom, where the cars lay. Luckily for her, the cars were side by side. She placed a grenade in each of car, and resurfaced. She saw a figure on the shore, which was about 100 yards away from her. He held up an object and pressed something. Dread ran through her, as she felt the vibrations below. She was blown out of the water and landed on a halfway-submerged rock. She banged her head on it when she landed on it, and the world went dark.

* * *

"Diana?" 

Diana felt someone caressing her cheek. She opened her eyes. It took a few seconds for her vision to clear. When she tried to sit up, a pain shot through her head.

"Careful, you hit your head on a rock," said Blade. She then realized that she was on the hood of his car. He helped ease her into a sitting position.

"You're injuries weren't life threatening, but you do have a few deep gashes on your arms and legs. They'll need to be bandaged. You also have a few scrapes on your face, and you were out for awhile. What happened?" he asked. Diana tried to recount what had happened.

"I remember that I planted the grenades in the car. When I got back to the surface, there was somebody on shore. He pressed a button on some remote, and I think the cars blew up. I guess I landed on the rock and bumped my head. It's still a little fuzzy," she explained as he tended to her wounds.

She looked around and realized that they were at the clearing.

"I see you found the clearing perfectly fine," she commented.

"How could you remember exactly where it was?" Blade asked curiously.

"I looked it up when we moved here, then memorized the location. By the way, thanks," she said.

"For what?"

"For coming back for me," she said. She tried to look in him in the eye, but he avoided her gaze.

"Don't mention it," he said nonchalantly and finished the last bandage. He helped her onto the ground.

"I'm okay to walk by myself," she said. She wobbled over to a tree and placed her palm on a covered knothole. The clearing turned into a platform that descended into the ground. As it did that, Blade and Diana got back in the car. When they finally landed, she instructed him to drive through tunnel. Once they were off, the platform rose back up.

Blade drove until they reached a garage filled with a few cars. They both got out of the car, got their stuff, and walked to the door that led to the house. Diana bit her finger and squeezed a drop into a little computer device. It processed the blood sample then said in green words "Access Granted". The door opened with a hiss

"Come on," she said and led him through a hall that led to a lavish living room with an adjoining kitchen.

"Nice," Blade commented. She led him into a guest room.

"This room is yours, give or take. Mine is down the hall," she said. She looked around the room.

"You know we'll only be able to stay here for a few days. A week at the most," he told her.

"I know, but it feels good to be in a familiar place, even though I have over 20 of them. I usually live alone, so going some where familiar is always something to look forward to," she told him. She wondered why she bothered telling Blade. She already knew he had no real home.

"Diana, do you always live alone?" he had to ask. She walked over to the bed and sat down. He joined her.

"Yeah, I'm a loner. I don't have much time for a personal life, with the clan and the council and all. But to answer your question, I basically always live alone." She usually never opened up to anyone that much. Blade stroked her chin softly; his mind was giving in to his human side. His human side wanted to be with and there for her.

"I haven't really fallen in love since my second husband. I don't know why I'm telling you this. It's not like you care," she said and looked away. Blade gently turned her head to look into her eyes.

"Don't be so quick to assume Diana," he said gently. Their heads got closer until their lips were touching. Diana kissed him softly, then passionately. He kissed her back with the same passion. When the kiss deepened, Diana pulled away. They were both breathing hard.

"What are we doing?" she asked. It was a stupid question, and she knew it, but she had to know where he stood on this.

"I don't know, but I'm on the same page you are," he replied. This time he kissed her deeply. They fell back onto bed kissing passionately. Her lips lightly nipped at his neck. He stiffened.

"I'm not going to bite you," she whispered to him. She placed kisses down his and came back up to his lips. His hands slid down her arms and she gasped in pain. He stopped.

"It's okay. It's just that it's still healing," she said. She kissed him again and they continued their lovemaking.

* * *

Later on, they lay in bed in each other's arms. Blade was asleep, but Diana was awake. Her head was in the crook of his neck. She placed a little kiss on his neck, which caused him to stir. He finally awoke. 

"Hey," she said sitting up. She kept the blanket wrapped around her.

"Diana, I need to know something. Did you…" Just then her actual untraceable cell phone rang.

"Shit!" She tried reaching for her bag and ended up falling up off the bed. She pointed to Blade.

"Don't do you dare laugh at me!" She opened her bag and pulled out her cell. He laughed at her anyway.

"Hello," she said into the phone.

"Hello Dyania," came the voice from the other side of the phone.

"Hey Meneus, what are you calling for?" she asked.

"The council meeting has been moved to Sicily, instead of Paris. Your headquarters was shut down due to mole in the department that gave control over to unknown vampires."

"I was aware of that when they broke into my hideout. Only about an hour ago, was I able to get to a safe place."

"Yes, I know. We are sending people over there to 'deal' with the problem at hand. Meanwhile the meeting is in a week on a Monday. I know you will be there on time. Bring your friend Blade too. I'm sure we have valuable information for both him and you. Good-bye."

"Bye," she said and hung up the phone.

"Meeting place has been changed. And they want me to bring you along. Looks like you're coming with me after all," she smiled.

* * *

**Hey what do you think? In the next chapter it gets better!**


	6. Mixed Signals

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry it's been so long. I had to study for finals and was swamped with projects and homework. I really appreciate all of you who reviewed.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blade, but I do Diana and my other characters.**

**Here's the story!**

* * *

Diana sat in her room meditating. She was surrounded by orange and black candles with a small idol of the Goddess Isis in front of her. She cleared her, and breathed deeply. In and out. In and out. In… There was a knock at her door. _Crap._

She waved her hand and the candles went out. She started packing away the candles and the statue.

"Diana! It's time to go," Blade called from the other side of the door.

"You can come in!" she shouted. Blade opened the door and stepped into the room. It looked plain and nearly empty.

"You ready to go?" he asked. He noticed the candles she was putting away.

"Yeah. I'm almost done," she responded.

"What's with the candles? You a pagan?"

"No, I'm actually priestess. Or I was supposed to be," she said sadly. One foolish decision had changed her life permanently. She had once wanted to be a priestess, but that dream was long gone.

"What goddess did you worship?"

"Isis. Then it was Venus, who is the Roman incarnation of Aphrodite. But I mostly stuck to Isis."

"Interesting. Let's go," he said and walked down the hallway. Diana grabbed her bag and followed him into the armory. It had been three days since they came to her hidden house in the forest.

"You know your friends are going to be waiting for us once we leave, right?" Blade had to make sure she knew what she was getting herself into.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I have a weapons' room," Diana replied. They had reached the room and went in.

They both began strapping different weapons to their bodies. On one of the tables, Blade found a small wooden box. He opened and found that there was a necklace inside. It was a small silver ankh dangling from a silver chain.

"Diana, is this yours?" he asked. She turned around to see the necklace he was holding. Her eyes widened in surprise. She walked over to him and took the necklace.

"Oh my god! I've been looking for this centuries!" she exclaimed.

"What's so special about it?"

"An old friend gave it to me. He said it would help me control my powers and vampire side. I haven't seen this in 200 years!" She struggled trying to put it on.

"I hate these kind of chains. They're impossible to put on," she said desperately trying to get thing on. Blade silently took the necklace and fastened it around her neck.

"Thanks," she said and adjusted the necklace so that the ankh was resting against her chest.

"No problem," Blade said and returned to gathering weapons. Diana went back to her own task as well. She always knew Blade wasn't one for emotions. He was silent the whole time as they finished arming themselves.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked hoping to break the silence.

"Go out a secret passage way and kill them on our way to the landing." They were going to use her private jet to get to Italy.

"That's it?" she asked skeptically. Blade nodded.

"Let's see how that works out for you. In the meantime, I'll go out through another exit and I'll meet you at the clearing." Before Blade could say anything, she added, "Then we'll kill our way to the plane. Happy?"

"Yeah, whatever. Just don't be late." Diana rolled her eyes. Blade walked up to her.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," was her response and she turned to go. Blade gently caught her arm and pulled her towards him. He kissed her deeply and pulled away.

"Watch yourself out there," he told her. Then he left.

"Damn," she said to herself, thinking about the kiss. She put her fingers to her lips briefly. "I should put myself in danger more often."

* * *

It was early in the morning and the sun was peaking out from under the mountains. Diana was fully armed and walking carefully around the forest. She knew the vampires were somewhere. She could sense them. She made it to the clearing without being attacked. 

Sure enough, Blade was there with his car.

"Took you long enough," he growled. He was pissed because he'd been waiting there for an hour.

"Nice to see you too, _lover_. I was scooping the area." She added that last part to annoy him. It worked.

"Look, that was only one time!" he snapped.

"So I guess the kitchen table and living room sofa don't count, huh?" she asked. Blade would have blushed, but he was black and therefore couldn't.

"What was that? You're so quiet. Can I buy a vow?"

"Ah, the two lovebirds are fighting," came a voice from behind her. There was a man standing in a camouflage uniform.

She spun around, guns instantly in her hands. Blade drew out his MACH's.

"Now that's not nice. Put the weapons down," he said politely.

"You must be out of your goddamn mind. We're not putting our weapons down," Blade challenged.

"Well, you can't say I didn't ask you nicely. Come on out boys!"

Twenty vampires in similar camouflage clothes came out surrounding Blade and Diana.

"Now I'm going to ask you again. Put your weapons down," said the leader.

"That wasn't a question," Blade pointed out. _Please don't aggravate him_, came Diana's voice in his head.

"Drop your weapons now!"

_I can take ten, can you take out the other ten?_, he asked Diana.

_Yes_, was her reply.

_On three._

_One._

"I said drop your weapons!"

_Two._

"Fire!" yelled the leader. Good thing Diana didn't wait for three.

She fired twice and shot two vampires in the head. She kept on aiming and shooting. Meanwhile, Blade was letting the bullets fly everywhere. He stilled killed all his targets though.

"You Americans never aim first then shoot. You fire and hope to hit the target (Disclaimer: That goes quote goes to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.)," Diana commented.

The leader grabbed Diana and slammed her into the car. He wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed. She tried to fight him off, but he had her body pinned to the car. Blade yanked him off of her and kicked the guy in the chest. He fell to the ground but got up again. Diana's eyes went electric blue and she threw a blast of chi at him. The leader went flying through the air and impaled himself on a branch.

Diana rubbed her sore throat. Blade checked her neck.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

"We should get going." They both got in the car, and Blade drove off. Neither of them noticed that the ankh necklace was gone leaving a disappearing impression on her skin.

* * *

Blade had been driving for a few hours. He had been driving through the mountains for about 2 hours. Diana slept peacefully beside him. She looked so beautiful when she was asleep. 

He didn't know exactly what he had gotten himself into. Sure, they had had they're moments of passion over the past three days, but they never discussed having a relationship. Blade wasn't even sure he wanted one. Whistler had taught him that feelings and emotions were his enemy, that emotions led people to do stupid and careless things. Whistler also said that feelings held people back.

"Could you please keep your thoughts in your own head?" came a sleepy voice.

"Sorry," he muttered. He hadn't known that she could hear him even though she was asleep. "What exactly did you hear?"

"Something about Whistler teaching you," she said. She was slowly waking up. Blade let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in.

"I'll drive when it becomes dark," she said churning over her thoughts. Truth was that she heard everything that Blade was thinking. So Blade was as confused as she was when it came to where they stand with each other. She didn't mind his thoughts that much, she was actually grateful for them. They had woken her up from another nightmare. It was one of the ones that she hated the most.

They drove until nightfall in silence. Blade pulled over a mile away from a campsite area.

"I'm going to take a little walk before I go behind the wheel," Diana told Blade.

Before Blade could argue she was gone.

Diana ran to a spot where the forest was thick. She took off all her clothes and laid them down on a nearby rock. She concentrated for a moment and fell to the ground on her knees. She felt the bones morph and shift in her body. Black fur covered her body and a tail sprouted out of her body. She felt her fangs elongate and her eyes change shape.

There stood a black jaguar with blue eyes.

* * *

The jaguar sprinted through the forest chasing its prey. The moose ran as fast as it could, but it was no match for the jaguar. The jaguar pounced and brought down the massive animal. The jaguar bit down on the moose's neck and the animal died instantly. The jaguar tore the moose into shreds and devoured the poor animal. 

Once satiated, the jaguar trotted over to the rock with a pile of clothes on it.

Blade had grown worried. It had been half an hour and Diana still hadn't returned. He unholstered one of his guns and walked off in the direction he had seen her go in.

The forest was thick in the area where he was walking. Through some of the trees he saw a black jaguar. He held still as the jaguar sniffed the air, then turned its head towards him. It approached menacingly. There was something familiar about the jaguar.

It growled. Blade raised his gun and started firing. The jaguar scampered away.

"Diana?" Blade called out. He searched for her for 15 more minutes, and then headed back to his car.

He was shocked to find Diana already there.

"Where were you? It's been 45 minutes," he lightly growled. She had a smirk on her face.

"Nowhere important," she said and pulled him in for a light peck on the lips. She walked over to the driver's side and opened the door.

"And Blade?" He looked at her. "Next time you see a black jaguar with blue eyes, please don't shoot at it." And with that, she climbed into the driver's seat leaving Blade dumbfounded.

* * *

As Diana drove, she thought about what happened in the forest. After escaping from Blade she changed back into her human form. Afterwards, she had puked out her guts. Now it seemed like every time she drank blood, she was bought it back up. She had quickly brushed her teeth afterwards and ran back to the car, 

Blade studied Diana. He wondered what she had been doing in the forest. She had implied that she was the jaguar that he saw.

Diana could feel Blade's gaze on her. She wondered what he was thinking about. She didn't want to tap into his thoughts because he would notice, but she really wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Blade, why are you staring at me?" she asked after awhile.

"I was wondering if you were the jaguar back in the woods?"

"Yeah, I was. I haven't done it in awhile, but it's nice to know I'm not rusty," she said with a small smile.

"How did you do it?" he asked curiously.

"I just pictured it and became it. It's another one of my mysterious powers," she explained.

_This is true_, Blade thought. Since he had known her, he noticed that she was discovering new powers every so often. Since he was bonded to her, he was able to do a small fraction of what she could do.

About an hour later, Diana pulled over to a secluded spot near the woods. Blade went through his bag looking for his pistol injector. Diana grabbed a small bag of her own and headed off to a private spot.

She opened the bag and pulled out a bag of blood. She licked her lips in delight. The Thirst had taken over her a few minutes ago. Since she couldn't keep her last meal down, the Thirst came back in full force.

Diana tore open the bag with her fangs and greedily drank the blood. She felt her body rejuvenate as the blood circulated through her system. She savored the taste of the blood. Soon, she drained the bag. She licked her lips in delight.

She disposed of the bag and on her way back to the car; she prayed that she would be able to keep the blood down.

As she approached the car, she saw Blade still riding through the seizures from his serum injection. She set down her bag and gently caressed his face with her hand. She leaned her forehead against his and joined their minds. White, hot agony coursed through her body but she didn't flinch. She bore through it.

Blade felt the pain edge away. He opened his eyes to see Diana's bright silver eyes staring right back at him. She looked a little pained.

"You alright?" he asked running his thumb across her lips.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll make a better serum for you 'cause it seems like this one hurts like hell, and it doesn't seem that effective." She stared into his eyes and briefly looked down at his lips.

"It works just…" he began but Diana pressed her finger to his lips.

"Don't lie to me. I can feel the Thirst building up inside your body. You know there are others ways to deal with the Thirst," she said.

"I'm not drinking human blood, or any kind of blood for that matter," he growled at her. She smiled at him.

"Drink my blood."

"No. No, Diana. I'm not doing that to you again!" He stalked away from her, but she grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Think about it, Blade. I'm not human and I just fed. Everything will be okay. I'm not weak like I was last time." She bit her wrist and offered it to him. Her eyes were now that icy blue.

Blade looked at her warily before taking her arm. He lifted her wrist to his lips and paused.

_Go ahead,_ entered his head. He pressed his lips to her wrist and began drinking. Diana sucked in a breath when she felt his lips touch her skin. Ecstasy took over her as he kept drinking. Vampires and even some humans reached a point of ecstasy when a vampire drank their blood.

She was breathing deeply when he pushed her wrist away. The bite healed up instantly. Blade approached her with a predator look in his eyes. He gently cupped her chin and kissed her passionately.

Diana was surprised when he deepened the kiss and gently pushed her against the car. Blade was usually the reluctant one, and now he was taking charge. He pressed his body to hers and a moan escaped her lips.

Blade ended the kiss and lightly nibbled on her lower lip. Diana tried to recapture his lips but he moved slightly and barely brushed his lips against hers. She kept trying to kiss him, but he dodged her lips teasingly.

"Damnit Blade, stop teasing me!" she begged. His kisses were making her knees buckle. He slid an arm around her waist to keep her from falling. He pushed her hair behind her ear and caressed her throat.

"Patience, Diana," he said in a deep sexy voice. He trailed his lips down her throat and nipped on a particular spot. He heard a growl-like sound coming from her throat. That was when he bit down.

Diana gasped in pain and pleasure. Blade only drank a little before returning to her lips. She could taste her blood on his lips and tongue. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer. She broke the kiss and sank her fangs into Blade's neck.

You can probably guess what happened next. This led to hot and passionate sex on the hood of Blade's car.

* * *

As Blade and Diana were getting dressed, a whirlwind of emotions went through his head. He had made love to her, no slept with her again. Diana was wiping down the hood. Blade knew that somewhere deep down inside that he wanted to be with her. Not just have sex with her, but make love to her. He wanted to wake up to her in his arms every morning. He wanted this deep down inside, but with the war with vampires, it could never happen. They would be torn apart with their separate duties. Hers to the council, and his to hunting vampires. It would be best to severe the ties now. 

Blade glanced at Diana. She seemed to almost be glowing. The thought of the look on her face when he did what he needed to do made him almost not go through with it.

When Diana finished cleaning up and putting their things away, she walked over to him.

"We need to talk about this," she said. "We can't keep doing what we've been doing and not talk about." Damn, she had beaten him to the punch.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It shouldn't have happened. This whole thing between us has been a mistake," Blade deadpanned. Diana took a step back in shock. Clearly she wasn't expecting this.

"Excuse me. You're saying that everything we've done is a mistake? What ever happened to you caring about me?" she demanded.

"Those were moments of passion, nothing more. And I didn't say I did care, I just said don't assume." The stricken look on her face made him fell like a bastard. He closed his eyes and cleared his head of all emotions. They were now locked up in that place they used to be before he met her.

"Why did you do this to me? You made me feel for you, and then you just cast me aside? After I shared my body with you, and I even opened up to you." Her face hardened. "I don't know why I even took a chance on you. You're nothing but a heartless asshole who's sex-deprived. I bet you were even a virgin before you met me."

Blade's eyes were wide. He definitely wasn't expecting that from her. She kept at it.

"I don't see why I even slept with you. You weren't that good and only lasted a few minutes," she hissed. She opened the driver's door and got in. Then she slammed it closed. Blade joined her in the passenger's seat.

"Look, Diana. If I sent you mixed signals I'm sorry," Blade began.

"I don't give a shit!" she snapped. "And besides, I don't need your fucking pity!"

Blade decided to let her cool off for awhile. She was pissed off and she was the one currently driving his car. He didn't want to end up at the bottom of a mountain in a smashed up car. He sighed and leaned back. It was going to be a long and awkward ride to the airport.

At dawn, Blade took the wheel while Diana slept. He entered her mind to see how she was. Instead of viewing her emotions, he caught a glimpse of one of her nightmares. What he saw in the nightmare stunned him. He jerked the car to a stop, instantly waking Diana up.

"Why the hell did you stop?" she demanded.

"I saw apart of your nightmare," he said sullenly. He didn't like what he saw.

"You went in my head! What is it with you today!" She was absolutely furious.

"Did Horus rape you?" he asked seriously. Diana went stiff, and a tear trickled down her cheek.

"Since when do you have the right to ask me about my personal life?"

"Answer the question."

"No. You already seem to know because you went through my mind. Stay out of my head." Diana was sending him a death glare. Apparently, he went to far, and at the wrong time.

Blade pulled back onto the highway and didn't speak another word to her.

* * *

A few hours later, they arrived at the small airport. The employees had loaded the car along with their luggage on the private jet. 

"This is nice," Blade commented on the interior of the plane. The plane had three small bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a bar. It looked extremely luxurious.

"Yeah. Being a council member has its perks," she said and sat down on a sofa. She was instantly reminded of her and Blade's romantic encounter at her house. The thought brought her pain. She didn't know what brought on Blade's change of heart.

"Everybody buckle in for take off. It's going to be a long plane ride to Italy, so get comfortable," came the pilot's voice on the intercom. They began take off. As soon as they were in the air, Diana walked straight to the bar. If she was going to spend four to six hours with Blade on a plane, she was going to be drunk.

A few minutes later, Blade joined her at the bar.

"We didn't finish our conversation from the car," Blade commented.

"And we're not going to. That discussion is over. I don't feel like dealing with you right now."

"Diana…" he began.

"Please, Blade. Just give me some space, okay?" she asked sadly. Blade looked into her eyes. He didn't have to read her mind to see that she was sad and distraught.

"Ok, I'll leave you alone for now," he said and got up. He walked away to the one the bedrooms, leaving Diana alone.

For the next hour, Diana drank over 20 different mixes of alcohol drinks and cocktails. Luckily for her, vampires didn't get hangovers, and they could hold their liquor extremely well.

Diana stumbled over to one of the rooms in the plane. She saw a bed and dove for it. She snuggled up to the pillows.

"What are you doing here?" came a voice from the doorway. Blade was standing there. Oh crap, this was his room. Oh well, she was drunk and didn't care.

"I'm trying to sweep," she mumbled into the pillow.

"This is my room," he stated. "And you're drunk."

"So? Does it look like I care?" She was cranky when she was drunk and/or sleepy.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'Am I okay?'" she snapped. "You told me that what we did was a mistake! Do you think I'm okay?"

"Diana, get over it!" His voice was as uncaring as he was.

"I forgot since you're inexperienced, you don't know or understand how women work. You see when you say being with a woman is a mistake, don't expect that woman to be nice to you for several months, even years. I hold really long grudges. If you don't believe me, go ask Horus. Oh wait, I forgot he's dead because I had a grudge against him. Let's hope your future is more promising."

"You're going have to get over it sometime."

"Yeah, but I sure as hell am not starting now. And by the way, I don't have to forgive you. Why should I for give an…" She stopped short and bolted to the bathroom.

She emptied all the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She felt absolutely awful. She was nauseous and tired. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was because she hadn't been feeding as often as she should have.

Blade entered the bathroom to check on her.

"Are you sick?" he asked. He wanted to reach out for her but he knew he didn't have the right to do that.

"Vampires don't get sick."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know. Will you just leave me alone?"

"Alright. I'll go. But Diana, I'm really sorry the way things worked out the way they did."

"Yeah right," she growled. But Blade was already gone.

"What am I going to do now?" Diana slumped to the floor in defeat.

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Please review!**


	7. Being Sick Sucks!

**Hey guys! I decided to give you a small chapter, but I'm going to update within the next week with a larger one! I'm still sorry it took so long! But I hope you won't hate me for it, because the next chapter is going to blow your mind!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Blade. I own Diana/Dyania, Janus, Meneus, Melina, Horus, and Nikolus, so plz don't plagarize. If you want to use any of my characters, ask me first.**

**To the reviewers: I am so thankful for all those who reviewed! You guys have made this my most reviewed story and I'm extremely thankful for that! I love you guys!**

**Now on with the chapter!**

* * *

Diana was back in the bathroom again. She attempted to feed on blood again, but she ended up throwing it back up. She felt terrible. She hungered for blood yet her body wouldn't tolerate it. 

She brushed her teeth, again. She was getting tired of throwing up every time she drank blood. She staggered out of the bathroom and walked into the main room of the plane. She plopped down onto the sofa and turned on the TV.

Blade came out of his room and joined her on the sofa. Diana made a point to ignore him.

"You don't look so good," he said softly. She gave him a _no shit_ look.

"I'm just tired. What do you care anyway? You made it very clear that you don't care about me," she sadly. Blade grabbed the remote and switched the TV off.

"We need to talk, Diana."

"About what?"

"What I said to you."

"You told me that we were a mistake. That pretty much explains it," she said and started walking away.

"Diana will you listen to me?" Blade pleaded. She turned around and regarded him coldly.

"No," she said and went back to her room. Blade followed her.

"Diana…" he began.

"Blade, I don't want to talk to you. You hurt me and right now I don't want to deal with you," Diana said. She sank to the bed in tears. Exhaustion suddenly came over her, and she vaguely remembered Blade taking her in his arms."

"I'm sorry, Diana. I really am," he whispered in her ear. He noticed her smile in her sleep. She unconsciously snuggled up to him and he kissed the top of her forehead.

Moments like this made him wish that there were no vampires to fight. Vampires had taken everything away from him. They took his parents, Whistler, and his life. Now his job as a hunter was separating him from Diana, who clearly had deep feelings for him. He had felt horrible for the way he treated her, but it had to be done. There was no future for them. He was a vampire hunter and couldn't afford to be tied down. She was more of a family type of person. He knew he sounded like a selfish bastard, but the lives of innocents came before love, didn't they? He used to think that, but now he wasn't so sure. After he ended things with Diana, he tried to keep Diana at arm's length. But now that she was sick, he let his concern overpower reason. Did he love her? That was certainly a question he needed to think over.

* * *

The intercom announcement jolted Diana awake. 

"We will now be landing in five minutes. Please fasten your seat belts until we touch ground." Diana walked out into the living room and took a chair next to Blade. They both fastened their seat belts as the plane began its descent

"Hey," she said softly.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. She smiled weakly.

"A little better, thanks. I was thinking that maybe after we landed, we could talk like you wanted to earlier," she suggested. Blade nodded.

A few minutes later, the plane landed. Diana and Blade gathered their stuff and exited the plane. They had four bodyguards surrounding them as they walked through the airport. They were cast curious glances from people at the airport, but they just shrugged it off.

They were met outside by a black hummer limo. The driver got out and opened the passenger door. Blade stepped forward, but Diana put her hand out to stop him.

Two passengers got out of the limo. Diana recognized them instantly. They were two of the council members, Melina and Nikolus. Melina was 5'7", had long, wavy, light brown hair and brown eyes. Nikolus was 5'10" and had short brown hair, and almond colored eyes. They both had tanned brown skin, because like Diana, they also were born and raised in Egypt. They also sported athletic bodies due to the training they were required to take as members of the vampire council.

Diana rushed forward and gave Melina a hug.

"Melina, how are you? It's been so long since I've seen you!" Her and Melina separated.

"I know! We should keep see each other more often. You look great and you're glowing! Some guy must've put that smile on your face." She looked behind Diana and spotted Blade.

She rushed over to him and hugged him. He stiffened and she pulled back. She ran her fingers over his arms.

"You must be the famous Blade. I'm Melina. God, you are so sexy! I don't know how Diana managed to keep her hands off of you. Girls, just love that bad boy image," she purred. Blade looked over at Diana, whose eyes had turned electric blue. _Oh shit_, Blade thought.

Diana grabbed Melina's arm and violently wrenched her away. Melina's eyes widened in shock.

"Why don't we get in the car and go to the Council's Grand Hotel," Diana said in a deadly tone. Melina looked from her to Blade and raised her eyebrows, just now getting it.

"Oh, so you two…" she began before she was yanked away by Nikolus.

"Melina, sometimes you need to shut up," he deadpanned. Diana gave him a grateful look. He pulled her in for a hug.

"It's great to see you again, Dyania. We have a lot to catch up on," he said.

"Hey, I'm Nikolus. Melina and I are also council members." He shook Blade's hand. "I hope your stay in Italy is enjoyable." He took Melina by the arm and led her back into the limo.

The driver took their luggage and stored it in the back.

"I'm sorry about Melina, she's a bitch sometimes." Blade frowned at that.

"You don't like her?" he asked.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong! She's like a sister to me. She just sometimes acts like she's sixteen, and it can get annoying," she said and stepped into the car with Blade right behind her.

On the drive, Diana and Melina caught up while Blade and Nikolus discussed weapons and fighting techniques.

"Why did you call for a council meeting, Diana? The official meeting isn't for another month," Melina said.

"You'll find out at the meeting," she replied. "I have some questions that need answering that only the older council members would know. And plus, Meneus said that he had information for Blade."

"Oh, well I have some good news. Horus hasn't been spotted for three months. He might actually be gone this time. He might no longer be a threat to you," Melina said hopefully. She and Nikolus had also been slaves of Horus. That was actually how they all met.

"Yeah, hopefully. But his clan is after me."

"It might be Janus instead of Horus," Melina said and instantly regretted it when she saw the pained look on Diana's face.

"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to bring him up."

"Who's Janus?" Blade spoke up. Diana looked up to see Blade and Nikolus paying attention to them. They obviously had been listening to their whole conversation.

Melina opened her mouth to reply, but Diana beat her to it.

"He's Horus's second-in-command. He's almost just as bad as Horus. He's actually less sadistic and sneakier. The bastard," she explained. "He has a personal vendetta against me for some reason."

"Why?"

"I don't know." Diana leaned back into the seat. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. A wave of nausea hit her. She was starting to get a headache. She put her hand on her head and groaned in pain.

"What's wrong?" Nikolus asked

"She's been sick the last few days," Blade said.

"But vampires don't get sick! When was the last time you fed?" Melina asked.

"A day ago, I think," she answered weakly. Her headache was getting worse and she felt like throwing up again. Melina opened up the mini-fridge and took out a packet of blood and tried to hand it to her.

Diana pushed the bag away from her. "Please, the smell of blood is not helping."

Melina and Nikolus gave each other knowing looks. Melina turned to Blade.

"How long has she been rejecting blood?" Her tone was serious.

"For two days atleast. Why? What's wrong with her?" he said very concerned.

"Oh shit! There is no way that this could happen! It's impossible!" Melina was almost freaking out now.

"I know, but there has to be some explanation. Maybe we were lied to before," Nikolus suggested. He got an ice pack and put it on Diana's forehead.

"Driver! Prendali immediatamente all'ospedale d'argento della Rosa! (Driver! Take us to the Silver Rose Hospital immediately!)" Melina shouted to the driver.

Diana could barely understand a word anybody was saying. The pounding in her head was drowning out everything else. As she felt the darkness closing in around her, she faintly heard Blade say, "It's going to be okay, Diana. We're going to take care of you."

Then she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**I promise to reveal Diana's sickness in the next chapter, and things are going to get a little more dramatic so don't be surprised. You guys can send me a private message if you have any questions!**

**I hoped you liked the chapter! XOXO!**


	8. The Sickness Revealed

**Hey, I decided to update earlier, so enjoy!**

* * *

Diana heard voices all around her. One said something about a hospital. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes. 

"Are you okay?" Melina asked immediately. "We're almost at the hospital."

"Why are you yelling?" Diana asked. "I don't need to go to a hospital. I'm fine," she said groggily.

"No, you're not. You just passed out on us! You're going," Nikolus ordered.

"No, I'm not!" The limo suddenly lurched to a stop.

"Diana, stop. Let the limo go," Blade said. Diana glared at him.

"No! I'm not going when I'm fine. Let's just go to the hotel and I'll take a nap. Maybe I'm just stressed over the happenings from the last few months. You know with Horus's clan after me and everything."

"Diana, you're not fine. You can't tolerate blood, you're passing out, and you've been having nightmares on a daily basis! You need medical help," Blade said. Melina and Nikolus looked at her.

"You never told us that the nightmares were back," Melina's voice had gotten low and fearful.

"It's not a big deal!"

"Yes it is! When you have those nightmares it means Horus or Janus is near. This is very serious," Nikolus said.

"You guys know about the nightmares?" Blade asked. They both nodded.

"We were there when it happened. The bastard had us all in the same cell," Melina growled at the memory.

Diana released her hold on the limo and the car started moving again.

"Finally, you've come to reason," Blade said with relief. Through the window he could see the hospital coming up.

"The hospital's on the corner," Melina announced. They waited for the driver to stop but he passed right by it and kept going.

"What the hell!" Why didn't we stop?" Nikolus asked the driver. The driver did not respond, so he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the driver's head.

"I said 'Why aren't we stopping?'" he reinforced.

"The mistress said go the hotel," the driver replied in a zombie-like state.

"Dyania! Stop influencing the driver!" Melina demanded. Diana sat back and pouted like a child.

"No! Since you guys won't listen to me, I will force you to," she said simply.

"Fine, but after the council meeting tomorrow, you're going to the doctor."

"Fine," Diana grumbled.

They finally reached the hotel and the bellhop put their luggage on the cart. They checked in and headed to the fourth floor.

Melina and Nikolus led Diana and Blade to their room.

"Nice hotel," Blade said.

"Yeah, we have tight security and lots of money rolling in. We try to make our visitors' stay as lavish as possible. Only the high ranked vampires, their representatives, and their second-in-commands are allowed to stay here. Now put your right index finger on the fingerprint scanner. You assign your fingerprint to the scanner and that's the way you get in," Melina explained.

Blade removed his glove and placed his finger on the scanner. It scanned his finger then made a beeping noise, and he removed his finger.

"Okay, Dyania. You next."

"Wait, what? I'm sharing a room with him?" Diana asked.

"Don't worry, hun. It's a two-bedroom suite. You'll be fine," she reassured her.

Diana placed her finger on it. The scanner scanned her finger and then it pricked her finger. She removed it immediately and sucked on her finger. The door slid to their suite slid open.

"Thanks for telling me that the computer took blood, asshole," she directed towards Blade. He just shrugged and put his glove back on.

They stepped into the suite that looked like the inside of a mansion.

"Sorry, Dyania. We decided to step up security to ensure the visitors' safety. The other council members are already here. You can visit them if you want, but I suggest you two get a good night's sleep and just greet them in the morning. The meeting's at eight o' clock sharp. A limo will be here to pick you up at seven. Bye!" Melina said and sped off the down the hall to her room. Diana saw Nikolus follow Melina into her suite. She raised her eyebrows slightly. She didn't know that they were an item.

Diana picked up her luggage and dropped them off in her room. She briefly took a walk around the suite.

She walked into Blade's room. He was checking over his weapons.

"Hey," she called out from the doorway. He turned away from his weapons and sat down on the bed. "So you wanted to talk?"

"Yeah. It's about what I said in the mountains. Not of all of it was true," he began.

"What part wasn't true?" she asked. She joined him on the bed.

"All of it."

"If you didn't mean it, then why did you say it?" she asked sadly. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt when you said that?"

"That's the difficult part. We can't be in a relationship."

"Why not?"

"My job as a vampire hunter keeps me moving across the world every few months. I wouldn't be able to be there for you. I would only see you a few times a year, and you deserve somebody more trustworthy."

"I don't want somebody more trustworthy, Blade! I want you!" she exclaimed with tears running down her cheeks.

"I know this is hard to grasp, but this is for the best. It will be easier on us this way. I thought that if you hated me it would be easier for us to part."

"Blade, I could never hate you. I love you." The words were out before she could stop herself. Blade stared at her in shock.

"Diana, I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. More tears streamed from her eyes, when Diana realized he wasn't going to say it back. She straightened up and wiped her tears away.

"Now I know where we stand. I liked it better when I thought you didn't like me." She stood up and walked out of the room. He followed her out.

"Diana," he began.

"Blade, for the love of God, please don't. I mean it. I just need some time alone right now. I'll see you in the morning." She walked into her room and closed the door.

Blade walked back to his room and plopped down on the bed. She said she loved him, and he didn't say it back. Oh god, he really blew it this time.

Diana twisted the handle and warm water started flowing into the Jacuzzi-sized bathtub. She added lavender bath salts and vanilla-scented bubble bath. Once it was full, she turned off the knob, stripped down, and stepped in.

She let the warmth of the water envelope her. She laid her head back on the headrest cushion. She had made a fool of herself in front of Blade. He did care about her, but he put his job first. It was insulting that a man would choose a job over a woman. But she had to think of it from his point of view. He had been hunting vampires for years, and she couldn't just drop into his life and expect him to change for her. _I guess that's the way the world works_, she thought.

She went to bed after lounging in the tub. Despite all the sleep she had, she was still very tired. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The alarm blared in her ear at six o' clock in the morning. Her eyes turned an electric blue while glaring at the alarm.

Blade was in the living room drinking black coffee, when he heard a loud crash come from Diana's room.

Diana smiled at the now smashed alarm clock on the floor. The day was already looking promising.

The happiness factor lasted up until a short wave of nausea hit her in the shower. She had to grab the railing to keep herself upright. Once it passed, she ran out of the shower and puked in the toilet. She brushed her teeth and finished her shower.

She dressed in a tank top, jeans, a leather jacket, and leather boots. She packed a few weapons away in her purse and walked out of her room. Blade was already dressed and ready to go.

"Come on let's go," she said and they headed out of the hotel. Sure enough the limo was waiting for them.

The drive to the headquarters didn't take long. Once they entered they were checked by security. Since she was a council member and he was her guest they were allowed to keep their weapons. The council conference room was on the sixth floor and was heavily guarded.

Diana pointed Blade in the direction of a wooden door.

"The guests go through there and watch the conference through window. They have snacks and refreshments if you want any. I have to go through here to get to the conference room," she explained and Blade entered the observation room.

Diana put her hand on the scanner next to the metal double doors. It scanned her hand and beeped. The door opened to feature a white room. As soon she stepped in the room the doors closed.

"Please remove you shoes and coat and stand inside the circle marked on the floor," a computerized voice requested.

Diana took off her shoes and coat and placed them on a nearby chair. She stepped inside the circle and waited for her next wave of instructions.

"Show all of your tattoos and/or distinguishing body marks."

Diana concentrated for a moment. Her tattoos began to slowly appear. She has silver rose on the inside of her left forearm. She had a Celtic knot design encircling each arm next to her shoulder. She also had an image of mother's sword tattooed to her back.

A camera slowly descended to face her. It slowly circled her body emitting a light from it that scanned her whole body. Once it was done, the camera disappeared into ceiling. An empty test tube appeared in front of her with a needle on top of it.

Diana took the needle and pricked her finger with it. She squeezed a few drops of blood into the test tube. She set the needle down on top of the test tube and watched it disappear into the ceiling also.

It was a few minutes before she heard the computer say, "Identity confirmed. You may collect your items and enter the conference room."

Diana put her shoes back on and stepped into the conference room. Everybody else was already there. The council consisted of six men and six women. The men in order from oldest to youngest were: Meneus, Illias, Nikolus, Andreas, Calix, and Thaddeus. The women in order from oldest to youngest were: Chione, Nailah/Dyania (they're the same age), Melina, Tahirah, and Kamilah.

They all had labeled seats. Diana sat down at hers.

"You're late," Kamilah said. Diana rolled her eyes.

"The meeting doesn't start for another half hour, bi-otch," Diana replied.

"Whatever, let's call this meeting to order. Dyania why don't you start by telling us why you called us here," said Chione.

"Yeah, we would like to know why Horus suddenly disappeared, and Janus showed up," Meneus said. He was married to Chione and they agreed on most things.

"Yes, about that. Three months ago, Blade helped me from a vampire attack. At the time he was after Deacon Frost, who wanted to use Blade for the LaMagra ritual. However, Horus got wind that I was near Blade at the time and made a deal with Deacon Frost. I was captured right outside a blood bank and Blade and I were taken to the Temple of Eternal Night. There, Horus revealed to me that I had a twin brother and our mother just so happened to be the creator of our race, and the twin sister to Gilgamesh, the creator of the opposite vampire race. What I don't understand is why I didn't know about this before. I mean, some of you were turned before me and either had to be turned by my mother, brother, or the older vampires my mom turned herself. I don't expect the vampires in this council that are younger than me to respond," she said all in one breath.

The council had guilty looks on their faces.

"Look, Di, we didn't want you to find out like this," Meneus began.

"Then how did you expect me to find out?" she countered angrily.

"Dyania, you must understand that we were under strict orders by your brother himself, not to reveal his identity," Nailah said.

"Why?"

"Because of Horus," Chione answered. "Your brother wanted to show himself to you, but Horus forbid it. He threatened to kill you if you ever saw your brother. Your brother didn't want that, so he kept himself secret from you. He was doing it for your own good."

"He doesn't need to worry about Horus as a threat anymore," Diana said. Her eyes were flaming with fury. The council had purposely withheld information from her. She was pissed.

"What happened to him?" Melina asked.

"I killed him in the Temple of Eternal Night. A dagger right through the heart."

The council was dead quiet.

"Dyania, you do understand that we still cannot reveal his identity to you," Calix spoke up.

"Why? Goddamnit! Why?" Diana stood up and banged her fists on the table.

Blade was watching the scene before him through the window. These people clearly had issues amongst one another.

"Calm down, Dyania," Tahirah suggested.

"Shut up," she growled. She felt another headache coming on. The nausea came back with a bigger force.

"Dyania, calm down," Tahirah said again.

"I said, shut up!" Tahirah's mug exploded spraying blood on her.

"What the hell!" she exclaimed. Melina rushed over to Diana.

"Oh god! It's happening again!" Melina panicked. Blade stood at attention at this. This was worse than the other times.

Diana's head was pounding and she couldn't see anything clearly. She instantly blacked out.

Blade's eyes widened in horror as she stumbled forward and hit her head on the table and collapsed on the floor. The council members rushed to her. Blade ran out of the room and ran to the conference room.

* * *

Diana saw colors swirling around her eyes and blurry images. She blinked her eyes and the images cleared. She was in a hospital room and it looked like she was being given a blood transfusion. Melina, Nikolus, and Meneus were in the room with her. The rest of the council members and Blade were outside looking through the window. 

"Thank god! She's awake!" Melina breathed a sigh of relief. She was sitting on the edge of Diana's bed.

Nikolus and Meneus were sitting in nearby chairs. The doctor entered the room.

"Oh it's good that you're awake. I'm Dr. Harrison. You were out for awhile. While you were out of it, I took the liberty of taking some blood samples and ran tests on them. What we found was very interesting. Here are your results, if you don't wish me to read them aloud," he said. He handed her the results sheet.

Diana scanned the paper before her jaw dropped. Melina snatched the paper and read it. A huge smile spread over her face.

"Oh my god! I'm going to be an aunty!" she shouted before Diana could cover her mouth. Nikolus's and Meneus's eyes widened. Melina handed them the paper. They read over it.

"There is no way I'm pregnant! It's not possible!" Diana exclaimed.

"Actually, it is. The reason you were having these extreme episodes was because you weren't having enough blood. Since you can't ingest it, you need daily blood transfusions until you're able to tolerate blood again. I need you to come back next week for a check up. But since your blood bag, is empty you can go. All you have to do until the check up is pick up blood from the blood bank and give yourself a transfusion once a day. You'll continue to have the episodes, but they will be less violent. I'll be back in a minute with your release forms," he said and left the room.

"Who's the father?" Meneus asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Diana asked cautiously.

"So I can wring his neck out." Meneus had always been an older brother to her.

"Calm down. It's Blade."

"What!" all three of them said at once.

"That's not scientifically possible. The two species cancel each other out. There is no way you two could conceive a baby," Nikolus said obviously puzzled.

"Blade is part human, so I guess that's how," Diana said sadly.

"When are you going to tell him that he's going to be a father?" Meneus asked.

Diana thought carefully before answering the question. "I'm not."

"Dyania Ptolemy, you cannot do that to him!" Meneus exploded. "He has a right to know that you're bringing his child into the world! You know how horrible it was for me when Chione didn't tell me I had a son. You saw how much I suffered when I found out. And I can't believe you're going to do the same thing. Maybe you could learn some tips from Chione. Let me tell you this, if you don't tell him by your six month, I will tell him myself," he barked at her before leaving and slamming the door.

Diana drew her knees to her chest and rested her head there. She looked to Nikolus for support

"I'm sorry, Dyania. But I'm with Meneus on this one. Blade does have a right to know," he said softly and left the room.

"Dyania, they're right. You have to tell Blade," Melina said.

"Melina, I'm scared. I've never had a baby before. Those other times I miscarried the babies are different. I'm scared and I don't know what to do. Blade chose his job over me. I somewhat understand his decision and can deal with it."

"Honey, what exactly are scared of?" Melina said softly.

"I'm afraid that he might choose his job over his own child. I wouldn't be able to bear it if he did. The thought of raising a kid alone scares me. But the thing that scares me the most is that one day my kid is going to ask me if he or she has a dad. I'd rather choose for him, than let him choose for himself. If I choose for him, there's no fear of rejection," Diana confessed. Fresh tears sprouted from her eyes and she buried her head in her knees.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay. We're here for you," Melina said soothingly. She wrapped her arms around Diana and held her tight.

Blade watched the display through the window. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but whatever was wrong with Diana clearly upset her. He tried talking to Nikolus and Meneus but they just brushed him off and left. They took the other council members with them and motioned for him to go with them.

* * *

Blade was packing up his stuff by the time Diana walked in. She still had the paper in her hand. Her eyes were red and puffy. She folded up the paper and put in her pocket. 

She walked into his room and leaned against the doorway.

"Blade, we need to talk," she said painfully. She didn't want to tell him, but Meneus was right, he had to know.

Blade looked at her and finished packing his stuff.

"I can't talk right now, Diana. My plane leaves in half an hour," he said.

"You're leaving?" she asked. He nodded.

"Whistler's not dead. He was turned. The council gave me lead as to where he can be found. I probably won't be back for another month or maybe more. It's hard to say, but I promise to be back," he said sincerely.

"Don't bother. I won't be here waiting for you," she said in a dead serious tone that made Blade stare at her.

"Diana?"

"I don't want to go through this again. You already put me through enough, and right now I can't deal with it." She strode out the room and exited the suite. She found the council members in the observation room.

"What the hell!" she exploded. "You sent him away!" Meneus bravely walked up to her and she slapped him. She raised her other hand but he caught her hand.

"We sent him away for you to have more time to gather you thoughts. Melina told us your side of the story, so we decided to give you some alone time. You definitely need it, especially with all you've gone through the last few months. I'm sorry. I truly am."

Meneus held her as she cried. He stroked her hair and made soothing noises. _She's going to be okay_, he thought to himself. _I'll make sure she'll be okay_. The rest of the council offered her comfort, and for the first time in a long time, Diana felt loved.

* * *

**I'm sorry if too sappy for those who get depressed by sad stories, but things will lighten up in the future.**

**BTW, Plz Review!**


	9. Janus the Menace

A/N: Hi! I'm back with an all new chapter! Enjoy!

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Diana went to her follow up doctor's appointment. She was sitting on the exam table waiting for the results of the blood test. Dr. Harrison entered the room with her chart.

"Diana, I have good news for you. You and your baby are in perfect health," he said with a cheerful smile.

Diana sighed in relief. "Thank god."

"Now I am going to recommend atleast two weeks of bed rest. This is going to be a difficult pregnancy," he began. Diana's smile faded. "No, I don't mean the you and the baby aren't going to live through it, I mean that your 'episodes' will still happen but they won't be as bad as before." He began writing on the chart.

"Oh crap," she muttered.

"I have to be honest with you though. The birth is going to be long and hard, seeing as the baby is from two different species," he continued.

"Yeah, I know. The baby is going to be half of our race, ¼ of Blade's race, and ¼ human."

"I suggest that you increase your security and stay low," he suggested seriously. "This baby is one of a kind, and many people will be out to kill it or resort it to research and experiments."

Diana protectively put her hands on her abdomen feeling the presence of the baby. She smiled.

"I'm going to make sure that nothing happens to this baby," she reassured the doctor. "I have a question though."

"What is it?" The doctor stopped writing and looked up at her.

"I assume you know my entire history, correct?" she said uneasily.

"Yes, I even have the notes the all your other doctors wrote. Why?" The doctor was nearing 6,000 years.

"How come I couldn't have children when Janus and I were married? We tried for years, but nothing happened. My doctor at the time declared that I was barren because of all the miscarriages I have had." She looked down to the floor in shame. She wasn't really proud of her past.

"I'm not sure why you couldn't have children, but my guess is that it had something to do with Horus. The doctor you had was working for Horus, and Janus could have been drugging you during your marriage. All I know is that even with the amount of miscarriages you had, Horus couldn't have beaten you until you were barren. You're a vampire and any damage he inflicted would have been healed by then," he explained.

"Thank you, Dr. Harrison," she said genuinely thankful.

"Your welcome. Anymore questions?"

"No."

"You free to go then."

Diana slid off the table, grabbed her belongings and left.

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Blade sat in the window seat of a plane. It had been three months since he left Italy. He had gone to Romania to find Whistler, but the vampires had moved him somewhere else by the time he got there. He hoped that the council would continue to help him; he really wanted to find Whistler.

Now he was on his way back to Italy and Diana. She was something to think about. He felt awful for just leaving her there, and he never got the chance to hear what she wanted to tell him. He felt bad about that.

The plane landed in a few minutes and he walked out of the plane as soon as he could.

At the exit, he was greeted by Melina and Nikolus.

"Hi, Blade! How was Romania?" Melina said in a too-cheery voice.

"It was a bust. Where's Diana?" he asked.

"She's not here," said Nikolus. He was glaring at Blade.

"She left?"

"She said she told you she was leaving," Melina said confused.

"Well, she didn't actually say it, but more like implied it." He thought back to their argument.

---------------------------------------------

Flashback

"_Whistler's not dead. He was turned. The council gave me lead as to where he can be found. I probably won't be back for another month or maybe more. It's hard to say, but I promise to be back," he said sincerely._

_"Don't bother. I won't be here waiting for you," she said in a dead serious tone that made Blade stare at her."_

End Flashback

---------------------------------------------------

"Oh," Melina said understandingly. "Anyway, we're flying to Paris!"

"Why?"

"Because that's where Diana is! She moved right after you left and the council is hosting a party. It's going to be so much fun. Here's your ticket and we'll meet you at the gate," she handed him his ticket and Nikolus pulled her away.

They started walking off in a different direction. As soon as Blade was out of earshot, Nikolus turned to Melina.

"I don't know what you and the other council members were thinking about when you planned this. You know the party is to announce Dyania's pregnancy to the vampire community. She is going to kill every last one of us slowly and painfully!" he complained.

"Oh, calm down. Everything is going to be fine. That's why we didn't say anything to you. You would have told her. You know how Dyania is, she'll avoid telling Blade and when he does find out she'll avoid him completely. It's easier this way."

"Easier! Dumping the news on a guy that he's going to be a father is not easy, especially in Dyania's case! You should have just convinced her to tell him, that way less limbs are broken." It seemed perfectly logical to him.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" she said.

"Yeah, but you love that about me," he said getting closer to her.

"You're right about that," she said and kissed him passionately.

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Diana stood in front of the mirror studying her figure. She was three months pregnant, but she wasn't showing yet. She had gained atleast two pounds.

She was almost ready for the party. She had everything on except her dress. She couldn't decide of out of the five she picked out. Chione rushed into the room.

"Come on, Dyania. The party starts in 15 minutes! We're going to be late! Why haven't you chosen a dress yet?" Chione reprimanded her.

"I don't know which one to wear," she said.

"Wear the red halter dress. You already have the jewelry and underwear on to match!"

"I'm not so sure."

"Put it on now, or I will force it on you," Chione growled. She was such a perfectionist.

"Fine!" Diana stepped into the dress and Chione tied the strings behind her neck. She stepped back to look at her.

"Look at you! You look stunning!" she complimented.

"And pregnant," Diana muttered. She slipped on her red silk Chinese slippers. She couldn't wear heels anymore because they hurt like a bitch.

"Let's go!" Chione rushed.

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The council members were all seated at a banquet table on a stage while the rest of the party guests sat at round tables on the banquet floor. Everything was lavishly decorated and there was a dance floor that separated the two sides of tables. Chatter could be heard from the party guests. A lot of the high rank vampires were here and their bodyguards too.

Chione and Meneus stood up and the room went quiet. They raised their wine glasses that were actually full of blood, in a toast. Only Diana's was filled with water.

"I would like to thank you all for coming to this Congratulatory Party. It is great to see all the working wonders or of the vampire government. I am so thankful that you could come. Now, my longtime friend and the godmother to my children, Dyania, has something to say," Chione announced. Meneus took his wife's hand in his own and kissed it.

Blade sat at one of the tables looking up at the stage. Nikolus had forced him to wear a suit and tie to this event. He had noticed the guy next to him as soon as he sat down. The guy looked vaguely familiar. His card read _Kafele Thomas_. That was when he noticed that the guy had silver eyes. The same silver eyes that Diana had.

Diana stood up slowly and nervously cleared her throat.

"Like Chione, I am glad that you all are here. It really means a lot to me. I am kind of nervous about what I have to say, but I won't be able to hide it much longer. I'm three months pregnant and am expecting in six months," she said.

Blade sat at the table dumbfounded. He was in shock. This was what she wanted to tell him. _Holy shit!_

The whole room erupted in applause and the crowd rushed her with questions.

"Who's the father?"

"What are planning to do?"

"What's going to happen next?"

It was one question after another, and Diana barely had time to think. She glanced over the crowd and her eyes locked on a familiar face. Blade.

He was staring back at her with an emotion she couldn't quite decipher. Fury, rage, hurt, she didn't know. And she didn't want to find out. She noticed the gentlemen with silver eyes who was right next to him. Her eyes went electric blue.

She whirled on the council members. "You guys new he was coming?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it did not disguise her hurt and rage.

"We invited him, sweetheart," Melina said softly her eyes wandering to the ground. Diana looked into the eyes of each council member and was met by the same expression Melina wore. Guilt.

"I can't believe you guys!" Diana stormed off the stage and fled the room. The council, Blade, an Kafele were right behind her. She took off down the hallway.

"Diana!" Meneus called out. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face them.

"Nice of you guys to tell me that Blade _and_ my brother were going to be here. Really nice!" she said sarcastically.

"Diana," Blade said. She turned to him, eyes cold.

"What are you doing here? I left Italy for a reason, and I thought you got the hint," she said icily. Steel laced her voice.

"We were trying to do what was best for you!" Melina countered.

"This isn't your life! Go find your fucking own, instead of interfering with mine! I told you that I didn't want him to know! He wasn't worthy enough to know!"

The blow was meant to hurt each one of them. Blade felt like he shot in the gut. She thought he wasn't worthy enough.

Diana stood glaring at them, when she felt something pressed against the back of her head.

"Hello, wifey," a voice said from behind her.

"We're not married anymore. I filed abandonment on your ass a long time ago," Diana snapped at him

"What are you doing here, Janus?" Kafele asked. "I thought I made it clear thousands of years ago for you to stay away from my sister."

"You're really not in the position to argue right now," Janus said. "Now, I'm going to take her with me. And if any you try to stop me," he looked pointedly at Blade, "mommy and baby will be having an early funeral."

They could do nothing but watch him walk away with Diana. Blade felt anger course through him. He was going to get her and his baby back.

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A/N: I'll update when I can. In the meantime, review!


	10. I Don't Want To Lose My Baby!

**Here I am with the 10th anniversary chapter! Enjoy!**

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Diana's first thought when she woke up was that she hoped that her baby was okay. Janus had drugged her as soon as they left the building. She was in some dungeon-looking room chained to a wall.

"Hello, Sleeping Beauty," said Janus from the other side if the room. He was sitting in a chair and his look was dark. "Now that you're up, I have some questions to ask."

"What do you want from me?" she said tiredly.

"Answers. If you answer correctly no harm comes to you and your baby, but if you answer wrong, well I don't really need to explain what happens, do I?" He fingered a silver laced whip on his lap.

Diana panicked when she saw the whip and struggled to get out of her bonds. She tugged and pulled on them but to no avail.

"It's no use trying to get out. The drug prevents you from using your enhanced strength."

"The drug you used," she began but stopped due to a wave of dizziness.

"What about it?" he asked. Diana didn't answer; she was still trying to battle the dizziness and nausea.

"Oh, you want to know if it harmed your baby," he realized. She nodded weakly. "Your baby was unharmed, but whether it stays that way up to you."

Diana was terrified of what he was going to do.

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Blade paced around the conference room, his mind constantly worrying about Diana and their baby.

"Calm down, Blade. We're going to find them," Kafele said calmly. Blade snapped his head in Kafele's direction. He looked like he wanted to murder him. He opened his mouth to reply, but Melina beat him to it.

"Said the brother who abandoned her," she growled at him. Her and Kafele's eyes went blue.

"Know your place, Melina," he warned.

"My place was right by her side when Horus was doing the things he did to her. I was there for her, I even tried to help her but she'd rather have his wrath on her rather than on me," she snapped.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for her. I tried warning her."

"Yeah, but you didn't tell her what Horus was," Melina countered.

"I didn't want to bring her into this mess," he reasoned.

"Because you didn't tell her, she ended up in it anyway. She became his wife and I became his mistress. Good job, Kafele!" She was getting angrier by the minute.

"It's not my fault he went after her adopted family. I had nothing to do with him turning you and killing your parents."

"No, but if you didn't turn Horus none of us would have had to go through that."

"I said I was sorry. How long are you going to hold that over my head? I couldn't control him," he said icily. He was getting tired of her always bringing that up.

"No you couldn't because you were to busy fucking Nailah!" she hissed.

"Watch it, Melina!" Nailah's eyes turned blue also.

"Shut up slut!"

"You little bitch!" Nailah exclaimed. Curses erupted from everybody. They all started arguing. Blade whistled to get everybody's attention.

"Everybody shut the hell up!" Meneus commanded. "We are here to find a way to get Dyania back."

"What is he going to do to her?" Blade asked. He was more upset than angry. All heads turned towards him. They couldn't bear to tell him the answer.

"He going to use her to draw out my mother and I," Kafele said.

"There's a way we can find her," Chione spoke up. "The blood ritual."

"The same one from the House of Leichen?" Blade asked.

"We can do it only if they're bonded," Meneus said. He turned to Blade. "Are you?"

"Yes, but won't Janus know we'll do the ritual?"

"It's likely that he's counting on it. He wants to be found so that we can drag Kafele and Nenet with us too," Melina said.

"Nenet will never go for it," said Kafele.

"Why not? Dyania's her daughter and she's your mother. Can't you convince her?" Melina asked.

"It's possible but highly unlikely. I don't know where she is at the moment, and it could take weeks to contact her. Let's just go with the blood ritual for now. It's the only thing we've got to work with so far. Once we know where she is, then we'll figure out what to do," Kafele suggested.

"It all depends if Blade is going to do it. Remember, he doesn't drink blood," Melina said. Chione turned to him.

"Will you do it? We could have our scientists make a duplicate of your serum, and we can administer it to you as soon as you're out of the blood," Chione said.

"I'll do it." His answer surprised half of the group.

"Are you sure?" Chione asked.

"Yes, if it'll help Diana." Melina smiled.

"Let's go," she said.

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Blade stood in front of the pool in blood with nothing on but his boxers and a robe. Melina stood at the side with his serum.

He took off the robe and stepped into the pool. As he went in further, he could feel the Thirst building. The urge to feed was becoming overwhelming. The blood was up to his chest. He took another step and it was up to his neck. He progressed forward and was soon submerged.

Blade felt the scenery around him change. He stood in front of a castle. He recognized it from Diana's nightmares. It was the same one she had been held captive in by Horus.

_The scenery shifted again. He was now in a dungeon that he assumed was underground. He was facing Diana. She was chained to a stonewall. She wore a short black nightgown and her hair was loose around her shoulders. She sported bruises and cuts all over her body. Her head hung low in exhaustion. She lifted her head and looked up as if sensing him there. She parted her lips and uttered, "Help me."_

_A whip came out of nowhere and lashed her left cheek. Fresh blood dripped down from the cut._

_Blade turned around and found himself face to face with Janus. He wore an evil grin and lashed out at Diana again._

"_Where is your mother?" he demanded._

"_I don't know," her voice was hoarse. Another lash caught her on the leg. She barely flinched._

"_I'm going to ask you again. Where is your mother?"_

"_I don't know! I never knew her!" Janus cracked his whip and she flinched. "I swear I don't know. Please don't hurt me! I don't want to lose my baby! Please!" she pleaded._

Another crack of the whip silenced her. The scenery started to blur and swirl.

Blade was pulled out of the vision. He surfaced and gasped for air. He swam to the edge of the pool trying to avoid the urge to swallow the blood that surrounded him. He lifted himself out of the pool and Melina covered him with the robe.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded and took deep breaths.

"She's in Egypt. At Horus's castle," he managed to get out.

"Oh god," Melina said in horror. They were going back to the place that had plagued her dreams for centuries.

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Diana was now handcuffed to a bed. Janus had left her there for what seemed like days. She was tired and she ached all over. She constantly worried about the health of her baby. The torture she had gone through had made her sick with worry. But something inside her told her that her baby was still alive.

Janus hadn't given her blood and it weakened her greatly. The baby was draining her energy and she had no way of replenishing it. The headaches and nausea came back in full force and plagued her endlessly.

She felt like a cripple. She could barely move, let alone see straight with the growing hunger gnawing at her senses.

_It's so dark in here_, she thought sadly. _I can't even tell how long I've been here. I hope my baby and I make it out okay. If we do, what am I going to say to Blade? I kept this secret from him, and there is no doubt that he is going to be mad about it. After he wouldn't let me talk to him before he left I gave up. I wonder if he'll ever forgive me for it._

The door to her cell opened. A figure stood in the doorway.

"You ready to start talking?" Janus asked.

"I told you, I don't know anything!" she said hoping he would finally get it.

"Bullshit! You know. Deep down, you know where they both are. Now tell me!"

"I-Don't-Know!" she said through gritted teeth. He slapped her, leaving a small cut on her cheek.

"Oh, look. Another cut. It kinda blends in with the other ones don't you think?" she said. He raised his hand to strike her again. She held up her cuffed hand to stop him.

"Janus, you might want to reconsider that. Just to let you know, if you harm or kill my baby, nothing and I mean nothing, will stop me from killing you. And if I don't finish the job, the council, maybe even Blade will. And Blade is not a kind person when it comes to vampires. So you might want to watch your step," she said in a deadly voice.

Janus looked furious.

"Are _you_ threatening _me_!" he said with a laugh. A smile formed on her dry, bruised lips.

"No. I'm warning you."

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"Okay. So now we know where she is, we need to figure out how to get her back. If we go rushing in there, he'll kill her," Kafele recounted.

"Yeah, but if we wait too long, she'll die from exhaustion or blood loss," Blade said. Melina turned to him.

"What do you mean by that? What did you see?" she demanded.

"She was being tortured. It looked like someone had beaten her and left her for dead. And I'm willing to bet that Janus hasn't given her blood. Her body could just shut down," he explained. _And the baby could die with her_, he added in his hand. The very thought made him ache with sadness.

"Even if tried to give her blood, it wouldn't help. He'd have to do it intravenously." She caught Blade's confused look.

"She can't tolerate the taste of blood right now. It's a symptom of her pregnancy," she said sadly.

"How far along is she? Four months?" he asked.

"Three actually but she'll be entering her second trimester in a few weeks." Blade nodded absentmindedly.

"If her condition is as bad as you say, we need to leave in atleast a day or two with a full-proof plan. She's been gone for more than a week and her condition could get worse," Kafele announced.

"Well, have you come up with one yet?" Chione asked.

"No, but we need to think fast. Two lives are at stake, and over a dozen more if we go unprepared."

"I have an idea." Everyone turned to look at Meneus.

"Well, spill it!" Nailah said.

"We send Kafele looking for a trade. We assemble a tactical team and sneak in. Melina and Nikolus go with Blade to find Dyania. Chione and I could make sure that there are no traps to set off if Janus is killed or if Diana is removed. The rest can take out his bodyguards and accomplices," he said.

Everybody seemed to ruminate the idea in their heads.

"Sounds good to me. Any others?" Calix asked.

"It's a bit reckless since we're going in there blind, but Dyania is definitely worth it," Kamilah said.

"Anybody else agree with Meneus's plan?" Kafele asked. He raised his hand and so did everybody else. He smiled.

"Alright, let's go get her back." Kafele smiled. Everybody turned to leave.

"Wait. I have a question," Blade said.

"Sure. Ask anything," Melina said.

"Why did you all set up the event when Diana announced her pregnancy?" he asked. Everybody avoided his gaze.

"Well, she needed to tell the vampire community and…" Melina began jabbering.

"Don't bullshit him, Melina. The reason we did it was because she wasn't planning on telling you. Ever. Once we made you leave to give her more time, we soon realized that she was never going to tell you," Kafele said.

Blade's jaw clenched in anger. "Excuse me," he said curtly and stalked out of the room.

Melina walked up to Kafele and slapped him. "You're a bastard!" she hissed. She ran after Blade.

She had to jog to catch up.

"Blade, I know what you're thinking right now and you're wrong," Melina said. She kept up with his fast pace.

"Oh, and what's that?" he grunted.

"That this is your fault. It's not. It's not your fault she was kidnapped."

"But I was the one that made her run out of the room, right?"

"It was her brother too, remember?" she countered.

"Oh, that makes me feel better."

"That's not what I meant. But it's also not your fault that she wasn't going to tell you," she continued. Blade stopped.

"Oh, and who's fault is it then?"

"Hers."

"So now you're blaming this on her. I was the one who treated her like crap and told her that there was no future for her and I. I was the one who made her go," he explained.

"That may be true, but you had a right to know that you were going to be a father from the moment she suspected it," she said with determination. Blade noticed that she said the word "suspected".

"What do you mean 'suspected'? Has she been pregnant before?" he asked. Melina looked like a deer caught in then headlights. She didn't say one word.

"Spill it," he demanded.

"When we were still in Horus's captivity, she got pregnant several times. She never made it past her third month because Horus would beat her so bad. She miscarried all of the times. In case you're wondering why she didn't tell you, it's a sensitive matter with her. Losing a baby that many times can really do damage to a person. Then when she was married to Horus, she found out she couldn't have kids. It really scarred her," Melina said.

"I didn't know," Blade said in shock. No wonder Diana was guarded when it came to her past.

"She doesn't advertise it. Just go easy on yourself. It's not your fault."

Melina laid a comforting hand on his shoulder then left Blade to think about what she just said.

Blade went back to his room and meditated. It wasn't of much use. He kept thinking about Diana and the baby. They were in danger and could die.

Diana, little one, whereever you are. I will find you, rescue you, and make sure you're never harmed again. I love you. 

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_2001 miles away_

Diana opened her eyes from her slumber and smiled.

_I love you too, Blade._

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**I'm begging you! Please review! I'll update when I can, but it might not be soon due to my honors and AP classes, but I still have weekends. I'm rambling now, so thanx 2 all of those who reviewed!**

**XOXO!**


	11. Hell Hath No Fury

A/N: I just decided to add to this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Blade, but I sure would like to. I mean that voice make me weak in the knees. I own my characters.

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The nausea and the pain were unbearable. Her wounds had still not healed and she had to fight to remain conscious. It was pretty hard too, considering that the room was extremely dark.

The door banged open and a burst of light streamed through. Diana went temporarily blind for a minute. Then her vision cleared.

"Your so called friends haven't come for you yet. And it's been two weeks," said an all too familiar voice.

"I didn't expect them to," she barely managed to croak. "My mother is more important than I am."

"Yes, I noticed that. Too bad Blade seems more concerned with a woman he's never met than you and your unborn child. He doesn't care about you at all," Janus said.

"Duh, he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't want anything to do with me. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. He's an ass, and I don't expect him to be anything different," she replied.

"That smart mouth is going to get you killed someday," Janus growled. His lips turned up in a twisted smile. "Or your baby," he added.

The blood drained from Diana's face. "No."

"Oh, yes. Your friends aren't here, and I'm quite frankly tired of waiting for them to come with your mother and brother in tow." He pulled out a switchblade and popped it open. "I think they need a little motivation."

"Get away from me!" she said. She couldn't scream or yell because her throat was too dry. He approached her menacingly.

"I'll only just draw enough blood to get them moving faster. Think of it as me helping you get them here sooner. Don't worry, the baby might survive, but who really knows."

Janus pressed the blade against her neck.

Blade, Melina, and Nikolus watched the display in horror through a barred window. Melina and Nikolus were holding Blade back. He wanted to go in now, but they needed to wait until Janus was out of the room.

Janus struck and severed her jugular. Blood began rapidly oozing out. Blade could hear Diana's mental scream as it tore through his head. He wanted so badly to go in there and save her.

A servant appeared in the doorway.

"You shouldn't have done that, My Lord," the servant said in a subservient tone.

"And why not?" Janus asked. The servant trembled in fear.

"Because he's here, My Lord."

Janus smiled. "Perfect." He wiped the blade on his pants and walked out with his servant trailing behind him.

"Let's move," Melina said, but Blade was way ahead of her. He grabbed the bar window and yanked it out of its frame.

"O-K," Melina said a little scared. "We had tools, but I guess that's just as effective."

They jumped down into the cell, and Blade immediately rushed to Diana's side. She groggily turned to face him. Her time was running out.

"Diana, stay awake. We're going to get you out of here. Just hold on," he said inspecting her handcuffs. They were wired to a bomb under the bed.

"Blade," she said hoarsely. "I don't have much longer to live."

"No, you're going to be fine. We're going to get you out," he argued.

"You and I both know that that's not true. If you want the baby, you should know that a baby can live inside its dead mother for five minutes. I'm sorry, Blade," she said. Her eyes closed and her head dropped to the bed. Melina checked for a pulse.

"Blade, she's dead."

"No!" he yelled. He caressed Diana's cheek. "Please wake up!" Diana remained still.

He let loose a torturous howl. Diana was gone. He was still for a moment. He thought back to Whistler's teachings. He bottled up all his emotions and put on his unreadable face.

"Get to work on saving the baby. It's the only part of Diana I have left," he said in a passive tone. He started towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Nikolus asked, but he already knew the answer.

Blade drew his sword. "To kill the son of a bitch that started all this." He left the room and the sound of metal hitting flesh sounded through the hallway.

Melina waited for a second then withdrew the needle from Diana's arm.

"It worked," Nikolus said sadly. "Now bring her back." Melina dug in her bag for another syringe.

She found it and injected Diana with the liquid inside.

"You know that we can never tell Blade about this, right?" she said.

"Yeah, somehow I think that telling him that we made him think the woman he loved was dead will end up in our untimely deaths," he replied.

"I doubt he loves her. He might care for her, but I don't think he loves her," Melina said.

"Well, we'll see about that," Nikolus said as he began diffusing the wires to the handcuffs.

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Janus sat down at the empty dinner table. Kafele sat on the other side.

"I'm here to discuss a trade," Kafele said.

"Finally, a bite. Nenet agreed to my terms?" asked Janus.

Kafele gave a short chuckle. "Hell, no. She's, how would you say, on hiatus." He smiled evilly. Payback would soon be his.

"Then you don't get Dyania or the baby." Janus started to get up, but Kafele held a hand up.

"But I am willing to trade myself and another council member for Dyania and her baby," Kafele said seriously.

"Which council member?" Janus asked.

"Melina."

"I don't want another one of Horus's sloppy seconds. Make it Chione."

"Did you know most bank robbers get caught because of greed and not stupidity?" Kafele asked. Janus understood the hidden message.

"Melina it is. Where is she?"

Kafele's grin grew wide. "She's already here."

Blade crashed through the door. He was covered in ash and blood. Janus and Kafele jumped out of their seats as a reflexive.

"Blade, what are you doing?!" Kafele shouted. The plan was ruined.

Blade brandished his sword and stepped menacingly towards Janus.

"That bastard killed Diana," he growled. Kafele felt the anger rush through him.

"You were going to have me trade with you under false pretenses?!" Kafele's eyes went electric blue and his canines elongated. Payback was way overdue.

"Stop being so dramatic. You're acting like nobody in this world lies," Janus said nonchalantly.

Blade took another step towards him. Janus feigned fear.

"What are you going to do? Poke me with your stick?" he taunted. Blade smiled.

"Nope." Then, lightning-quick, Blade pulled out his gun and shot him in the chest.

The stake pinned Janus against the wall. Blade walked over to Janus and placed the sword over his neck.

"What are you going to do? Kill me?" Janus spat out.

"You don't deserve to die just yet. You deserve to suffer as much as you made Diana and my baby suffer." For some reason, Janus grinned.

"What's so funny?" Blade demanded.

"I bet you're going to make me suffer as much as you made her suffer," Janus sneered. He laughed at Blade's shocked expression.

"I kept tabs on her. Poor Dyania, stressing for three months on whether she should tell you that she was pregnant. She even almost lost the baby for stressing so much."

Blade growled and pressed the sword harder against his neck.

"Blade!" Melina shouted. Blade turned around and saw her in the doorway. Janus took the chance to lash out and kick Blade in the solar plexus. Blade soared through the air and smashed into the table.

Janus pulled out the stake and fell to the floor. "Moron," he muttered. He got up and threw the stake at Melina.

As the stake approached, Melina shouted, "Isis! Protect me!" The stake glowed yellow then stopped an inch before her and fell. Her eyes glowed a fiery yellow.

"You and Horus have destroyed my family. You took away my sister then subjected her to years of torture, then turned around and did it to me. I am sick and tired of being pushed around like a little kid and having you torture my sister. I'm sick of it!" Her whole body was surrounded by a yellow glow.

She stuck her hand out and yellow light shot from it. The light wrapped itself around Janus's limbs and forced him against the wall. Blade got up and stared in amazement.

"You do deserve to die. You're going to rot in hell for eternity. And I'm going to take pleasure in the fact that I killed the son of a bitch who broke my sister's heart," she hissed. Another yellow light surrounded his neck.

Melina balled her hand into a fist and the light grew tighter around Janus's neck. He coughed at the pressure. It felt like someone had a steel grip around his throat and was gripping tighter. His windpipe crushed and he couldn't breathe.

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"We haven't heard anything from them, let's go!" Calix ordered.

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The rest of the council rushed in just as Janus's dead body crumpled to the ground. The light disappeared and Melina fainted but Blade caught her.

"She's alive," Nikolus said from the hall doorway. In his arms was Diana. Blade rushed over to them, and he handed Melina to Nikolus and Nikolus handed Diana to Blade.

Blade hugged her tight to her body. He put his hand against her chest to feel her heartbeat. It was weak but beating.

"She needs medical help," he finally said.

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The doctor stepped out of the room. Blade stood up.

"How is she?" he asked. "And the baby?"

"Her and the baby are healing. She might make it."

"What do you mean 'might' make it?" Blade growled lowly.

"She is hooked up to seven different blood bags. She requires blood to heal. In a regular situation, she would be healed in a few days. But since she's pregnant, things are progressing slowly. The baby is absorbing the majority of the blood to heal itself and leaving only a little for Diana. Diana might make it but it will take awhile. If she doesn't pull through in the next few weeks, then she might not make it at all," the doctor said sadly.

"And the baby?" He was almost afraid to ask.

"We'd have to do an emergency C-section and put her in the premature baby program," the doctor explained.

"'Her?' I have a daughter?" The doctor nodded. "Can I go in?" The doctor nodded again.

Blade entered the room and sat beside Diana's bed. The cuts and bruises had healed, but they left faded scars on her skin. He took her hand in his and held it. He reached out with his other hand to feel her stomach. He applied a little pressure and concentrated. In a few seconds he felt the heartbeat of his baby. It was strong. He kissed her hand.

"Diana, please pull through. If not for me, for our baby," he pleaded. Her body remained in its comatose state, her vitals never changing. Blade rested his head on her stomach and listened to the heartbeat.

"Please, Diana."

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Melina waited impatiently in her chair, thrumming her fingers on the book on her lap. She looked up when Blade came out.

"Any changes?" she asked. Blade shook his head. Melina stood up and handed Blade the book.

"What's this?" he asked as he took it. The book was a embroidered with lavender silk and had a picture of a sonogram on the cover.

"It's Dyania's baby book. She was planning on giving it to the baby when it turned eighteen," she explained. "She already started on it. I thought you might want to get caught up on what's been happening with the baby."

"You mean when _she_ turned eighteen. We're having a girl," he said absentmindedly as he flipped through the book.

"Well, I'm going to go check on her. Bye." Melina went into Diana's room.

Blade turned to the first page. There was a sonogram picture and a picture of Diana

's forehead pasted there. Under the sonogram was scrawled, _Your first sonogram picture_. Under the forehead picture, _How I first found out I was pregnant with you_. Blade looked closer at the picture and saw a faint scar on her forehead. It was from when she fainted and knocked her head on the table.

He looked at the second page. It was a snapshot of him and Diana on a pier. Under it was written, _Your dad and me_.

He remembered the picture. They had been under the guise of an engaged couple. He was leaning against the pier railing with Diana in his arms and his chin resting atop her head. They looked so comfortable in each other's arms. He remembered the day vividly.

_"Say cheese!" said the photographer. Blade and Diana kept their faces passive as the guy took the picture. The photo came out and he handed it to Diana and Blade paid him._

"_Give me the picture," Blade said. Diana frowned._

"_Why?"_

"_So I can burn it." Diana smiled. She held out the photo and just as Blade grabbed for it, she snatched it back._

"_Give it, Diana!" he growled. She just smiled mischievously and slipped it into her back pocket._

"_If you want it, come and get it," she said huskily and took off down the pier._

"_Little witch," he mumbled then took off after her._

_Diana saw that Blade was following her and she went through the pier exit and rounded the corner heading towards the beach. She turned around and saw him nowhere in sight. She always had been the faster runner._

_She took a look around to make sure nobody was around, and then started shedding her clothes._

_Blade finally reached the beach and looked around, but Diana was nowhere in sight. A high-pitched whistle echoed in the air. Blade looked to see where the sound was coming from and found his answer._

_Diana was in the ocean and soaked from head to toe. And she was completely naked. She really wasn't revealing anything though. Her wet hair covered her breasts and the water was up to her hips. She had a smirk on her face._

"_Diana, give me the picture," he said keeping his eyes level with hers. She cocked an eyebrow in amusement. The tide rushed in, then back out, leaving the water level lower than before. He had to admit that her body was toned. He could see her slightly visible abs and the perfect curve of her muscles leading down to her… He snapped out of his trance when he heard her laugh._

"_What's so funny?"_

"_The only way you're getting this picture is if you come in here," she said suggestively. It took all his willpower to not just do what she said. She looked incredibly sexy drenched in water. He had a sudden urge to kiss her. Maybe more._

Focus_, he thought. He looked for a distraction. _Bingo._ He spotted her clothes on nearby rock. Diana followed his gaze to her clothes._

"_Don't you dare!" she shouted. Blade walked over to them and picked them up._

"_Have fun getting back to the hotel," he said and started back up the beach._

"_You.." and it was followed by cursing in many languages._

_Blade waited for an hour in the hotel before Diana showed up. She was using a wraparound skirt as a strapless dress. She still looked sexy as hell. He didn't notice that she had a hand behind her back._

"_What kept you?" he said leaning back in a chair._

_She brought out a bucket from behind her back and dumped a huge load of seawater over him._

"_Payback's a bitch and so am I," she growled and dropped the bucket at his feet. She marched towards the bathroom._

_Blade grabbed her and threw her on the bed. She tried to get up but he pushed her back down and straddled her waist to hold down her lower body. He grabbed her arms and pinned them above her head. She wiggled her body to try to get out._

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you," he whispered in her ear and she instantly stopped. "Where's the picture?"_

_She smiled at him. His eyes darkened._

"_You have already succeeded in severely pissing me off, and I swear if you don't give me the picture…" She started laughing. "What's so funny?"_

"_You're so worked up over a silly picture. You need to learn to relax and sometimes even enjoy yourself. That's what I was trying to get you to do earlier, but it backfired," she said. "I mailed the picture to a friend of mine."_

"_You're dead," he said seriously, and then surprisingly, he tickled her. She wiggled around and tried to get him off of her, laughing. They wrestled for power and Blade let Diana win._

"_Thanks," he said. Diana smiled. She knew what he meant._

"_You're welcome."_

That had been five months ago. He really missed her bubbly personality. He flipped through a few more pages in the book then set it down. He wanted his Diana back.

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_3 weeks later_

Blade just came out of the shower. He was going back to the hospital to check on Diana. He had visited her everyday and stayed until visiting hours were over. She showed progress

He had been staying with Nikolus and Melina. The phone rang. He answered it.

"Blade, Diana just woke up!" Melina shouted into the phone.

"I'll be right there," he said. Finally, after weeks of torture, she was awake.

"Wait, hold on." Blade could hear talking in the back. "She says she doesn't want to see you until she's discharged."

"And when will that be?"

"Tomorrow. She says that you can wait until then," Melina said. Blade gritted his teeth in annoyance. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

"Fine," he growled and hung up.

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"You know he's really upset over this, right?" Melina asked.

"Yeah, but I don't want to face him just yet. I need time to deal with this," Diana said weakly. Melina's anger rose.

"You've had three months to deal with it. Get over it. Enough is enough! You owe that man so much. He was worried for weeks that it his fault that you were kidnapped! He has been blaming himself constantly, and you're still acting like a selfish bitch! Get it together and forgive Blade. I know what he did upset you, but goddamn, it's been three months! Get fucking over it!" she yelled.

Diana's eyes were wide with shock. Melina left and slammed the door shut behind her. Diana rubbed her temples in frustration. This was going to be hard.

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Blade was sitting in the living room reading the baby book. Diana had kept journal entries and doctor charts from her appointments in the book. One dated the week after he left caught his eye.

As he read the paper, dread went through him. Janus had been right.

The front door opened, and Diana entered. She looked a little pale and tired, but nonetheless glowing.

"Blade, we need to talk," she said softly. He stood up, eyes glaring at her.

"Yes, we do," he said icily. He held up the paper.

"Why didn't you tell me that you almost miscarried?"

(New part starts here)

"Calm down, Blade," Diana warned.

"You expect me to calm down after finding out that you've been hiding your pregnancy from me for three months? Then you almost die, and now I found out that you even didn't have the decency to tell me you were pregnant after you almost miscarried!" he exploded. Diana glared at him.

"Well, I didn't exactly think that you cared at the moment," she snapped.

"I still had a right to know," Blade countered.

"I tried to tell you, but you left. Remember?" she hissed.

"Cut the crap, Diana. All you had to say was, 'Blade, I'm pregnant'. Instead of doing that, you told me not expect you to be here when I came back. You didn't try to tell me. You were looking for an excuse not to!"

"For good reason too. You know you wouldn't make a good father," she said without thinking. Blade dropped the paper and crossed the room to stand right in front of her. Her eyes stared right into his. She wasn't going to back down.

"What did you say?" His voice had gone from angry to menacing, and it terrified her. Yet his proximity was making her uneasy; in the way she liked. She took a step back and placed a hand on her hip.

"Tell me Blade, could you raise a child? Be there for her on holidays and birthdays? Hold her when she cried? Soother her when she had a nightmare? Or protect her and love her everyday? Could you do it, Blade?" she taunted.

He clenched his jaw. "I'd try. But you probably wouldn't have let me anywhere near her." That was a low blow.

"That assumption was unfair."

"But it seems I'm right," he growled. "Not so nice being on the other side, is it?"

"I had valid reasons to back up my assumption/decision," she argued.

"And what were those?"

"How about 'The whole thing between us has been a mistake' or 'We can't be in a relationship'? Do any of those sound familiar?"

"First of all, I told that I lied about what I said in the mountains. Second of all, what does a relationship between you and me have to do with raising a child?"

"To raise a child together, we'd have to have some sort of relationship, whether it's friendship or something else," she explained.

"And because I didn't think that we should have a relationship, you thought you had the right to not tell me about _our_ child?" he snarled. He was becoming more pissed off by the second.

"Look, Blade! _You_ left me! Not the other way…"

Blade grabbed her and restrained her against the wall angrily. She tried to struggle out of his grasp, but she was too weak in her condition. He stared in the eyes, but she looked away. This frustrated him even more.

"Diana, look at me!" Her silver eyes met his amber ones.

"This stopped being about you the moment you suspected that you were carrying my child. _Our_ child." Diana's expression went slack.

"How did you know about that?" she asked, her voice uneasy.

"Doesn't matter. What does matter is our daughter," he said firmly.

"Please let me go," she pleaded. She didn't want hear him say that he wanted. It took away her self-forced belief that he didn't care.

His eyes softened. "Why do you really think I didn't care?" he asked. She opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. She looked away.

"Please, Diana. I atleast deserve to know why," he said pleadingly.

"I thought that since I wasn't a good enough reason for you to stay, then the child I'm carrying wouldn't be either," she admitted. Blade looked into her eyes and saw that she was telling the truth. He let her go and stepped back to gather his thoughts.

"You really thought that?" he asked. The hurt in his voice was evident.

"What else was I suppose to think? You hardly talked to me," she said softly.

Blade sat down on the sofa and rubbed his eyes. "Diana, I want a normal life. I want a family. I want a wife. I want someone to love and to love me. But my current life prevents that from ever happening. My job as a vampire hunter prevents me having the things that I want the most. And that includes you, and the baby. But especially you."

Diana sat down next to him. "You never told me this. I never knew."

"Because I didn't tell you. I thought it would be better if you didn't know that I want an out to this life. If you did, it would be more tempting for me to actually leave it."

"Why don't you leave? You could have a better life," she suggested.

"Because I don't want what happened to me and my mother to happen to anybody else," he said. Diana finally understood him. This was the most he had ever opened up to her.

He turned to her and caressed her face gently. She placed her hand over his. "Diana, I want you." He leaned and kissed her sweetly. "And I want this baby and to be apart of her life." He lowered his head and placed a kiss on her belly.

"Why?" Her voice broke and tears slid down her cheeks. She walked over to the wall and leaned against it. He walked up to her until their faces were inches apart.

"Because I love you," he said and smirked.

"I always hated your cocky grin," she said but smiled nonetheless. She pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

Their lips met and their tongues explored. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they engaged in a passionate liplock. He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

There they made love well into the night. He held her tightly against him afterwards. Diana fell asleep in his warm embrace, content to be with him again.

"I will never let anything happen to you or the baby again," he said to her sleeping form. Anybody who messed with them, were obviously fucking with him and he was going to take them out. As he slipped into sleep, he wondered if Melina was able to locate Janus's associates and colleagues. He would really like to pay them a visit.

His hand slid around her stomach and rested there. The baby's heartbeat pounded against her abdomen. That was their daughter in there.

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Diana woke up feeling like she was near an oven. She realized that the heat was coming from Blade. She tried to untangle herself from him, but his grip on her tightened.

"Don't move. You're warm for once," he muttered.

"Well, you feel like a furnace so let go. Plus I'm hungry." Since he didn't know the male rules regarding pregnancy, he didn't listen to her.

"Blade, I swear if you don't let me go this instant, I will castrate you!" Blade let go.

"Fair enough. Aren't you cranky this morning?" Pain exploded through his arm as she slugged his shoulder.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"For getting smart with me when my hormones are imbalanced," she sneered.

"Oh, yeah," he remembered. "Mood swings." He remembered reading about it in one of pregnancy books he bought.

Her expression changed into one he knew well. "But you can make it up to me in the shower," she whispered into his ear and stroked his chest.

Lightning quick, Blade rolled her to her back and pinned her to the bed. He held her arms over her head and kissed her. When he pulled back she smiled.

"I love you and you're not going to go through this alone," he told her. She leaned up and kissed him. _I love you too, Blade_.

He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up walking towards the bathroom.

"Hey, where are you taking me?" she asked.

"To the shower," he said with a smirk.

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**Please Review!**

**XOXO, Wannabanauthor**


	12. Just for Fun

A/N: I wrote this in an hour and it was a spur of the moment thing. And I wrote it just for fun.

Read and Enjoy!

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"I must say, you were quite _adventurous_ in the shower," Blade commented as they were getting dressed.

Diana winked as she dried her hair. "I told you it would be fun," she giggled. "Listen, I have a doctor's appointment today at five. Can you make it?"

"I have some things to take care of, but I'll make it," he answered. Diana walked up to him and kissed him.

"Great. I'm going to lunch with Melina and Chione." She kissed him again. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. "Or I could go later."

Blade smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. A knock sounded outside. Blade groaned in annoyance.

"Blade, the council wants to speak to you on the phone," Nikolus said from behind the door.

"I'm going to kill them," Diana growled. She opened the door and they joined Melina and Nikolus in the living room.

Melina sat sulking on the couch sipping coffee. Diana joined her.

"What's wrong, Mel? You look down," she asked concerned.

"I just found out that Nikolus slept with someone who I considered a friend," she muttered sadly.

"When was this?"

"Years ago, but it still hurts," Melina said and put her coffee down.

"Who was it?" Melina's demeanor changed immediately. She inched away from Diana.

"What?!" Diana asked clueless. Blade walked into the room.

"Hey Blade, ask Diana how many men she's slept with. And ask her who they were," Melina challenged. Diana cringed. Now she knew whom Melina was talking about.

Blade raised his eyebrow curiously. "I have been curious. Diana?"

Diana's jaw dropped in horror. "You asshole! How dare you?!" she screamed. Something told Blade that that was the wrong move.

Nikolus just so happened to walk in the room holding a file. "Here's the info you asked about, Blade. And why do those two look so hostile?"

"Nikolus, why don't you tell Blade who slept with several hundred years ago," Melina said glaring at him.

"Marie Antoinette? I thought you were over that by now," he said. This seemed to piss her off even more.

"No, I'm talking about when you slept with Diana and didn't tell me about it."

"You slept with Nikolus?!" Blade roared. Diana winced.

"It wasn't a big deal. We were drunk. He confessed his love for me. I wasn't using my best judgment. No biggie!" she rushed.

"Yeah sure. It's no big deal that you slept with someone you told me that you consider a brother," he yelled.

"Okay, Blade. How many women have you slept with and what are their names?" Diana countered. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it. He took into consideration that her elevated hormones might have something to do with this.

"You know what let's just forget the whole thing," he offered.

"I'm with you there. And you two," she said indicating Nikolus and Melina, "can work out your problems on your own time. I have a chocolate dessert with my name on it."

Blade followed her out the door.

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"So how's the situation going with Blade?" Chione asked as she stirred sugar into her tea. They were at a local café with patio seats. Their bodyguards were sitting at a table nearby.

"We were able to work things out. He wants to be there for the baby, and he wants a relationship with me," she explained. She picked up a cracker on her plate and nibbled on it.

"Damn, I wished I had done that with Meneus," Chione said. Diana looked puzzled at that.

"My way wasn't the right way. Blade may have forgiven me, but he's never going to forget the fact that I tried to separate him from his child."

Chione sulked. "I know. I feel the same way. Being knocked up during an estranged relationship sucks."

"Here's to screwed up mothers," Diana said raising her glass. Chione clinked her glass with Diana's.

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"Where the hell is he?" Diana said checking her watch. It was fifteen minutes past five. Blade was late.

She sat on the examination table in a two-piece hospital gown. The doctor had taken a blood sample and gone out to test it for abnormalities.

Blade entered through the door. He took off his jacket and dropped it on the chair.

"Sorry I'm late. I had some things to take care of," he said. Diana could smell gunpowder and ash on him.

"What were you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing that you need to know about now," he said nonchalantly. The doctor entered.

"Hello there. Diana, we just ran tests and we should have them back tomorrow. For now we'll do the ultrasound." He reached for a drawer and opened it. He pulled out a tube of liquid.

"Okay. Lie down and lift your shirt up to reveal your stomach." Diana followed his directions. Blade was right by her side.

"This will feel a little cold,' he said as he squirted the jelly substance on her abdomen. He rubbed it around to spread it evenly. He turned on the sonogram and placed the transducer on her abdomen.

It took a minute, but an image appeared on the screen. There was small body outlined in the black. They could hear a thump-thump coming from the speakers.

"That's your baby. And the sound you hear is her heartbeat."

Blade was in awe. He'd seen the pictures she'd gotten from her previous appointments, but it was different seeing it up close. That was his baby in Diana's womb. His flesh and blood. His precious little princess.

"Wow," was all he could say. Diana turned to him and smiled.

"That's what I said the first time I saw her too," she said comfortingly. The doctor printed out the picture and turned off the machine. He handed the photo to Blade.

"Congratulations," he told Blade. He handed some paper towels to Diana, who wiped the jelly off her stomach.

"So what do you think?" Diana asked. Blade thought for a moment.

"I'm going to make sure my daughter will never date."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I know what goes through teenage guy's mind."

"But weren't you like that?"

"That's exactly why I'm doing it."

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A/N: Hope ya liked it! Please review!

XOXO, Wannabanauthor


	13. I Want to Take Your Offer

A/N: I'm back! Sorry, that this chapter is a little short, but I updated. I'm not really sure if I should finish this story. Let me know if you want me to finish it.

And here is the chapter!

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"Blade! Wait!" Diana yelled. She had to jog to catch up.

"No," he growled back. She caught up and spun him around.

"Listen!" she said.

"No, I will not have them making any more decisions about _our_ baby! Were you in on this too?" he snapped.

Diana looked taken back. "How could you say that? Do you really think I would do that?"

"You didn't tell me you were pregnant for three months! What the hell am I supposed to think?"

"You're an asshole!" she screamed.

"And you're a bitch. Now that we have that out of the way, let's focus on the real problem," he said. Diana's eyes went icy blue at this.

"You son of a bitch!"

Flashback 

"_The council and I have decided that Diana will go into hiding with me," Kafele said._

_Diana raised an eyebrow. "And when was this decided?"_

"_While you were in the coma," he answered._

"_It's a little too late to be playing the concerned brother act. Especially since you turned Horus and lied to me as a child."_

"_You don't have a choice."_

"_Yes, I fucking do. You don't get to dictate what goes on in my life, you bastard."_

"_Well since you can't take of yourself when it comes to you and your baby's security, I was appointed to take over._

"_Need I remind you that you were partially the reason I ran out of the banquet," she said with a slight growl. That memory had haunted her._

"_And Blade was the other reason, which brings me to my next point. He will get minimal visitation."_

_Now it was Blade's turn to be pissed._

End Flashback

"If you didn't want me to be apart of this kid's life, you should have just said so," he growled sped up his pace, heading for an elevator.

"Goddamn it, you bastard!" Diana screamed in frustration. She took a step to follow him, but swayed as wave of dizziness swept through.

She braced herself against the wall to keep herself from falling. "Shit" she muttered. She hated this part of the pregnancy.

She regrouped and headed toward the elevators. She was able to get in just as the doors were closing.

"I did not deserve that, Blade," she glowered.

"I didn't deserve to be lied to," he countered.

"Well, I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you."

"And that justifies your actions?"

"You're the one that left, you piece of shit!" She lashed out at him, but he grabbed her and pinned her against the wall of the elevator. She struggled against him but to no avail. She was weaker because she was pregnant. And he had her arms pinned above her head, leaving her immobile.

"One day you're anger is going to get the best of you. If you can't control it, you'll wind up dead."

"Yeah? And since when do you ca-"

She was cut off by his lips crashing down on hers. He released her wrists and her hands roamed over his body. His lips found her neck and licked and nibbled gently. Her groan urged him on.

He unbuttoned her shirt and kissed his way down to her collarbone. Her skin was on fire. She loved the way his lips felt on her skin.

"You wanna go back to the condo?" he whispered in her ear.

"Oh god yes!" she screamed as his hand went south. He chuckled slightly as he stroked her damp heat.

"I love what these hormones are doing to you," he commented as she yanked his shirt off.

"Before we go back to the condo, I have to do something," Diana said. Blade's mouth replaced his hand.

"But it can wait!" she added.

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Diana walked into the council room. All the members stared at her. Her appearance was somewhat disheveled, and her walk wasn't exactly straight.

"Listen up, guys. _Blade_ and _I_ are the only ones who have a say in how this baby is raised. Casually send word out that I have hired him as a bodyguard, so that way nobody will suspicious. And if you ever try to dictate on how my _our_ baby is raised, I will release the information that the child is going to be of both species, and then disappear off the face of the earth to leave you guys to deal with everything. Are we clear?"

"I will not agree to thi-" Kafele began.

"Then we're clear," Diana said and stalked out of the room slamming the door shut behind her.

"I'll keep a close eye on her, then. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong," Kafele said. Melina smirked. Finally, the arrogant bastard had met his match. His own sister.

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Diana woke up with a start. She rushed to the bathroom and barely made it to the toilet before she emptied her stomach. After she was done, she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth out.

Blade walked sleepily into the bathroom. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she said sitting next to the toilet. "I guess dinner didn't agree with me. I'm running out of choices for food that doesn't make me heave."

"Well, you're approaching your fifth month, so the morning sickness should go away in a few weeks," Blade suggested.

"Oh, great. I still have a few weeks left of vomiting." The sarcasm was evident in her voice. "Thanks for knocking me up."

"You were a more than willing participant if I remember correctly," Blade growled. "Hell, you even initiated it a few times. Don't blame all of this on me."

Diana burst into tears.

"Well, you don't have to be so mean about it!" she cried. Blade looked horrified.

"What the hell? Why are you crying?"

"You are so mean to me! You're a selfish bastard!" she yelled. "Goddamn hormones!"

"Hormones are doing this to you? What the hell is going in your body?"

Diana looked up at Blade with tear-filled eyes. "I want ice cream." Blade sighed in exasperation.

"You're kidding right?" Diana shook her head. She sniffled and made a pouting face.

"You're gonna be the death of me," Blade said and sighed.

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Blade was walking right by Diana as she happily licking her ice cream. She looked extremely pleased.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," he said. Diana just smiled.

"Don't look so gloom. You win many brownie points for this. We might even have a repeat of the shower event," Diana whispered in his ear. His eyebrows rose at that.

They continued walking down the pitch-black street. Blade sniffed something in the air that wasn't quite right.

He grabbed Diana's arm and pulled her closer to him.

She looked at him. "What's wrong? What's happening?"

"Nothing." _Somebody's following us. Make a right into the alley_.

Diana followed Blade's orders and they waited.

The man warily walked into the alley. All he saw was Diana licking an ice cream cone. He pulled out his gun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned with a small smile.

"And why not?"

"Cause he won't like it," she answered. The man was confused.

Blade dropped behind the man silently. He grabbed the man's neck and twisted. The body fell to floor.

Diana walked over to the dead body and checked the man's wrist. There was a small cobra tattoo.

"Holy shit!" she screamed and jumped back. Blade looked at the man's wrist.

"I thought I killed him a week ago," Blade said.

"What the hell does that mean?" she asked.

"It means that I heard from my contacts that there was bounty on your head from Janus and Horus's clan. I've been getting rid of the rest of the clan, so that the bounty will disappear."

"And you were planning on telling me this, when?" Blade didn't say a word.

"Wait, they usually don't go come after me alone. Oh god, there are more," she said. Blade grabbed her and pulled her out of the alley.

"We need to go now," he ordered. Diana threw away her ice cream.

"I don't think we'll make it back to the condo in time, and I'm not supposed to run," Diana said in frustration.

"And you can't fight either. Crap!" Diana pulled a gun from the waistband of her pants.

"But I can shoot," she said. Blade smiled evilly.

More men arrived near the alley, but Diana and Blade were nowhere to be found.

"Shit, they killed him," one man said.

"They couldn't have gone too far," said another.

"You're right about that," Diana said from behind them.

They all pulled out their guns and fired. Diana raised her force field up to block the bullets.

Blade appeared behind them and started slaying them one by one, chopping off their heads with his sword.

Diana lowered her force field when she thought it was safe. She heard somebody approaching behind her. She grabbed the man's arm and flipped him over her shoulder. Then she pulled out her gun and shot him in the heart.

Blade appeared by her side. "Come on, let's go." Then he noticed her sickened expression. "What's wrong?"

Diana threw up in the corner of the alley. When she stood up, Blade helped steady her. "You alright?"

"Yeah, it's just the smell of blood. It still makes me nauseous." He kissed her forehead.

"You'll be okay. Let's go."

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When Blade was sure Diana was asleep, he went into the living room and picked up the phone.

He dialed Kafele's number. When it picked up, he said, "I want to take your offer."

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A/N: Review and tell me if you want the story to continue, cause I am losing the drive to write this story because it is going to be extremely long.

XOXO, Wannabanauthor


	14. Arguing and Explaining

A/N: I know, I finally posted. Not much to say here, so read and enjoy.

And a special thanks to my wonderful beta: bassdog2006! You're a lifesaver.

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Diana woke up to a soft murmuring from the other room. She yawned and sat up. She pressed her ear to the wall. Blade was talking to somebody on the phone.

"_I need you to be able to protect her when I'm not here. She is weaker right now, and I know you have the ability to make the two of you disappear until she has the baby," Blade said._

"_Ok, how are you going to get her to agree to leave with me," the other voice said._

"_I'll figure it out, but she needs to leave immediately," Blade said._

"_I'll be right over." Blade hung up the phone._

Diana narrowed her eyes. _That hypocritical bastard!_

Diana got up and walked to the living room. Blade looked up from cleaning his sword as she entered.

"Who was on the phone?" She asked with a clenched jaw.

"Nobody," he said nonchalantly and went back to cleaning his sword.

"It didn't sound like nobody," she stated. Blade put his sword down.

"If you already know who it was, why are you bothering to ask me," he grunted. But the look in her eyes let him know that was the wrong answer.

"Because I want you to tell me," she said through clenched teeth.

"Why?"

"Because you gave me grief about his offer, then you turn around and accept it," she said calmly. Blade could sense the anger building up in her. She was trying to control it.

"So I did." The answer only added to the anger. Diana could feel her eyes turning ice blue. She closed them and tried to keep a tight leash on her anger and frustration. It didn't work.

"You hypocritical backstabbing son of a bitch! Do you want to get rid of me that badly? Did you realize that since you knocked me up that I might be burden? A burden that you might want to cut loose?!" she screamed at him.

"Obviously, the hormones are taking their toll on you." He had to duck to avoid being hit by the vase that flew across the room. It smashed against the wall where his head had previously been.

"What the fuck?" he shouted.

"You gave me up to my brother! You have no idea how much I hate him. If it weren't for him, Horus wouldn't have ever become a vampire!" she cried. That comment made Blade go still.

"What?" he said angrily.

"Before Horus stabbed me, he told me that my brother turned him. When I was growing up in Egypt; the pharaoh's son was my best friend. We were like brother and sister, but little did I know that he was my brother. He knew the truth the whole time. That was why he stuck by me as a kid. It never occurred to me when I was little that we had the same color eyes because we were related."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Blade asked.

"At the time, I didn't think that you cared."

Blade sighed and sat down on the couch.

"I refuse to go with him," Diana stated simply.

"Diana, you need somebody to be here with you, when I'm not around, somebody who can protect you better than I can."

"Then find somebody else. I will not live with the man that brought forth one of the worst vampires in history." Blade stood up, frustrated. "This isn't your choice anymore! This is not just about you! It's about the baby as well! You're weaker now. You don't have the energy to protect yourself and the baby. You need somebody else to help you."

"It's my body, and I can do whatever the hell I want!"

Blade sighed in exasperation. "You still don't get it. Do you know how hard it was to watch you die when Horus stabbed you? I finally met somebody, a woman, who can keep up with me, and was not afraid of who I was. A woman who understood what it was like to be turned into a monster against your will. Then I had to watch your blood pour out of your chest wound. I was so relieved when you were still alive. You didn't know what it was like to hear you say you were pregnant, and then you get captured because of me. Janus then beat you and whipped you until you were on the brink of death. I almost lost you twice, the baby once. And I do not want to go through that again."

His gaze was leveled on hers. He walked into the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Damn it!" she cried out. She slammed her fist into the wall, not caring how much it hurt.

"I need some air," she said to herself. She walked over to linen closet and pulled out a jogging suit and a gun. She always kept spare clothes in there. She took off her nightgown and put the suit on. She grabbed her keys and purse and went out the door.

She only had a few bodyguards go with her, even though it was the middle of the night. She went down to her garage, and had her driver take her to the 24hour mall.

The driver pulled up in front of the shopping center.

Diana wandered around window-shopping, until her stomach grumbled. She looked down to her rumbling tummy, and rubbed it subconsciously. She was developing a slight baby bump.

She was craving tacos. Minutes later, she was at a taco stand ordering a dozen tacos. And when she was chowing down on her food, her bodyguards were snickering quietly. She let it go because they were men and didn't understand what pregnancy did to a woman's body.

After she finished eating, she stopped by a nursery store. She checked out the merchandise, deciding which ones would go to her new house being built in Cairo. She wished that Blade were there. They constantly fought, but they made their situation work. She sometimes didn't know what to do anymore.

She went to the counter and ordered a few sets of baby furniture and clothes, but her heart wasn't in it. She was still upset over her fight with Blade.

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A woman appeared at Diana's condo. She passed the security checks with ease. She had had the council warn the guards about her arrival, so she was let in. She hadn't seen Diana in over 5,000 years. Kafele had tried to keep her away, but she was tired of waiting to see Diana again.

She took the elevator to the living quarter's floor. She stopped in front of Diana's suite and knocked on the door.

The camera on the corner fixated on her. She waited for the camera and the person on the side to identify her.

The door opened. She was greeted by whom she assumed to be Blade. She had never met him before, but she had heard of him, and had seen his pictures.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly, his hand tightening on the gun in his right hand. She glanced at it, and then turned her attention back to him.

When she answered him, she smiled at the shocked expression on his face.

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As Diana entered her suite, she dumped her stuff on the table.

"Hey, I'm ba-," she began but stopped when she saw Blade and another woman sitting on the couch. The woman had silver eyes.

"Who are you?" she addressed her.

"I thought that would have been obvious by the color of my eyes," the woman said gently.

"Great, just what I need. Another absentee family member showing up," Diana muttered.

The woman gave a weak smile. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as that."

"Then explain," Diana replied icily.

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"I know you hate your brother and I for not being there for you, and you leaving you into the hands of the cruel world. But at the time, other forces were at work," Nenet began.

"And those were?" Diana asked. She and Blade sat across from Nenet at the dinner table.

"Your father's wife," she deadpanned.

"I'm the result of an affair?" Nenet nodded.

"Only, it wasn't that uncommon back then. My brother Gilgamesh, or I heard he was last called Daegon, slaughtered our family. He was taken over by Thirst, but he let me live. I had my own version of Thirst and I was able to control it. He went on and created the species homines nocturna. But I ran away and fled to Egypt. I was taken in by the pharaoh Ramses and became one of his servants. He took a liking to me, and I to him. We fell in love, and he made me his mistress, since he was married. His wife, Nakia, was powerful and strong. She would not bow to any man, but she was barren. She could not give the pharaoh an heir. Then I became pregnant with you and Kafele, and that pushed her over the edge. She demanded that I be exiled, but the pharaoh refused. Nakia had a powerful brother that threatened to wage war on Ramses unless he followed Nakia's rules. She agreed that Ramses needed an heir, so she agreed to let me stay until I gave birth. It was a surprise when I had twins. Nakia decided that she and Ramses would raise Kafele and they would give you up to some friends of theirs, your adopted parents. But I was to be exiled, and never to return to Egypt. For years I was upset. I had given birth to two beautiful children, but they were being raised by someone else. I vowed revenge upon Nakia, for taking my children away from me. A few years later, I snuck into the castle and killed her and turned Ramses." Nenet took note of Blade's scowl.

"Yes, what I did was wrong, but at the time I didn't care. Ramses was upset with me for killing his wife and turning him, but I told him that I felt that he betrayed his love for me by allowing his wife to decide the future of my children. He gave in and covered up the murder. He was considering making me his new wife, but I left Egypt was once more to make him suffer like I had suffered. During this time, I was reunited with my brother and I lived with him, shielding myself from the rest of the world. I watched as my brother went mad from the destruction of his people and he avenged them by creating a blood bath. It was then that I realized what I had done to Ramses. I returned to Egypt to apologize to Ramses, but he informed me that I was already forgiven. Then he informed me of your situation with Horus, so I enlisted in my brother's help and one of Horus' workers who was an undercover for your brother."

"That was Meneus, right?" Diana asked. Nenet nodded. "We were able to get you, Nikolus, Melina, and the others out. But my brother and Kafele advised that I should stick to the shadows for awhile. I took their advice knowing it was for the best. Then Ramses called for me. He said that it was time for a new pharaoh and that he wanted to fake his death. I helped him, and he gave the crown over to his Nakia's brother, to compensate for the hurt he caused her. We lived together for several years before realizing that things weren't the same as they used to be. So we went our separate ways, but always kept in contact."

"Where is my father now?"

"I believe he's in Greece. You look so much like him."

"What happened after you parted?"

"I kept an eye on you. Your brother could take care of himself, but you were different. You were strong-willed and fiery, and always managed to get in trouble. I watched as you lived your life and came upon and crossed obstacles. I am extremely proud of how far you have come. Most people, if they went through what you did, they would have given up on life. But you kept going, no matter how hard things were. You're a survivor, and always have been. I've stepped in a few times in your life when I knew you needed the help, but I kept my distance. I knew you would have a hard time accepting me for abandoning you. But when I found out that you were pregnant by a hybrid, no offense Blade, from the rival species, I knew I couldn't keep myself hidden because you are going to need help raising the baby in a violent world and need protection. I didn't want you to have to relive a harsh life when raising your baby. I've always wanted a better life for you, but since I couldn't do it for you, I thought that doing it for the baby would almost be as close."

Diana sat back. "What are you saying?"

"I would like you to live with me. I can give you protection, security, a bountiful amount of excuses to not see your brother and a stun gun, if he gets across security."

"How could you say that about your own son?" Blade asked. Nenet sent him a look that chilled him to the bone. She was silently reminding that his own mother tried to kill him.

"He grew up in luxury. He never had to struggle. He somewhat took after Nakia's personality. He didn't have to deal with all the struggles and trials that Dyania had to go through. He thinks people should cater to him, and do whatever he says. He's become arrogant over the years. He has been sheltered from the cruelty of the world. I'm now realizing that Dyania is so strong because she overcame the trials, while Kafele simply never faced them. In a twisted way, she is stronger than him because she struggled in life and he didn't."

Nenet took a deep breath and blew it out. She finally had said what she had wanted to say for thousands of years.

Blade studied Diana's face. She was in deep thought, he could tell.

She was biting the inside of her cheek. Under the table, he reached for her hand and stroked it softly.

_It would be better for you emotionally and security wise to stay with your mother instead of your brother. If you really hate him that much, I won't force you to live with him_, he told her telepathically.

Diana looked at him questioningly. She was unsure of what she should do. She knew Blade would have to leave soon because he got another lead on Whistler, and she knew he couldn't keep an eye on her when he was halfway across the country. Blade untangled his hand from hers, and stroked her stomach lightly.

_If not for yourself, do it for the baby. She deserves to be in a safe environment, and shouldn't have to suffer from our misdeeds._

A tear rolled down Diana's cheek. She was scared. Scared of losing the baby; scared of bringing a child into such a violent world and scared of letting her mother get to close only to leave her again. But Blade was right; it wasn't just about her anymore. It was about the baby now. She looked up into her mother's eyes.

"I'll do it."

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Several Days Later

Diana was packing up the last box. When she was done, she looked around the suite. It was bare. Everything had been packed away and taken to her mother's safe house. She had visited earlier in the week and it was huge. Not to mention beautiful. A nursery had already been set up for the baby, and Diana's room was adjoined to it. There was a beautiful and spacious garden with many exotic flowers, plants, and trees. There was also a backyard with a helipad, tennis courts, pools, pool houses, and the list goes on. The place also had round-the-clock security, and a gym.

Diana smiled and picked up the box, and Blade happened to walk into the room at the same time.

"You shouldn't be carrying heavy objects," he chastised and took the box from her.

"I'm perfectly capable of handling it," she said with pride. She tried to reach for the box, but Blade moved it out of her reach. Then she felt something poke her stomach.

Blade noticed her frown. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. It feels like somebody just poked my stomach. That's weird," she explained.

Blade put the box down and felt her stomach. He felt a light tap against his hand.

"It's the baby," he said. "She's moving."

"Oh my god! She's moving. I can feel her moving," Diana said as if in a trance.

"Wow," was all Blade could say. He had never felt anything like this before. His child was in there, his little daughter.

Nenet walked into the room.

"You guys alright?" she asked. They had been taking a lot of time for one box.

"I just felt the baby move!" Diana squeaked. Nenet walked over and placed her hand on her daughter's stomach. The baby kicked again, but a little harder this time.

"Hey! Watch it, shrimp!" Diana scorned the baby.

"Oh, she's just excited. You and Kafele were worse when I was pregnant. You two were relentless," Nenet said, "Since you two are busy, I'll take the last box to the truck."

Blade and Diana spent a few more moments feeling the baby kick, and then left the suite.

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Two days later

The airport was busy and crowded and nobody paid much attention to the bodyguards surrounding Diana and Blade.

He gave her a hug.

"I'll miss you," she said giving him a light kiss on the lips, "I know that you'll find him. I'd love for Whistler to meet his granddaughter."

Blade smiled and kissed her again. Only this one was long and lingering.

They parted.

"Be safe," he said, "and please don't get into anymore trouble when I'm gone and don't relocate again."

"Don't worry. I'll be too busy decorating the nursery and setting things up for when the baby arrives."

"We still have four months left."

"Actually, we have five. A pregnancy lasts for ten months."

"Last call for Flight-851!" The announcer said.

"Well, I'd better go. See you in two months. It'll be a long two months, filled with extremely cold showers." He kissed her forehead.

Diana smiled. "Yeah, and too bad my morning sickness is gone."

"That sucks," he said. He kissed her one last time and left for the plane.

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A/N: Press that little purple/blue button on the bottom please!


	15. Chocolate and Whipcream, Yummy!

A/N: Yay! Another chappy!

Special thanks to my wonderful beta: Bassdogg2006

The baby kicked and ended up lodging her foot in Diana's ribs. Diana swore and moved the foot. She rubbed her swollen stomach.

"You're gonna be the death of me, kid," she muttered. She was now seven months along, and the baby was driving her crazy. She didn't get much sleep because the baby seemed to think that her insides were a soccer ball.

She returned to her paperwork, praying that the baby would stop moving. Nenet had grounded her, saying that it was too dangerous for her to attempt to go to any council meetings. So Diana had Melina send her paperwork that had been sitting out for awhile. This gave her a perfect opportunity to catch up on her work.

Though she was glad for the workload because it kept her busy, she often got bored and tired. The baby was draining twice as much energy out of her than a human child would have.

_Blade's coming back today_, she thought. It had been two of the longest months of her life. He had called often and had done a web cam during her doctor appointments, but it was better to see him in the flesh. She missed him, and when he was gone she felt lonely. It wasn't the just the sex she missed, oh hell that was a large part of it, but she also missed fighting constantly with him, which led to great makeup sex. The thing she missed most was a warm body next to her at night. Melina had offered to buy her a cat, but Diana knew that it wouldn't be the same.

The door to the suite opened. Nenet walked into the room followed by Blade.

"Thanks for having your _mom_ pick me up," he said.

"Sorry, not my fault. She refused to let me out of the house. Apparently, I'm grounded," Diana replied. She got up from her chair and walked over to him.

"Oh, so when she suggests it it's fine, but I when I mention it I'm an ass," he said. He cocked his head to side. "Are you waddling?"

Nenet felt the red flags go up. She signaled him, but he took no notice.

"Are you calling me fat?" Diana asked.

"Not fat, just considerably bigger," he replied, not realizing that he was digging himself deeper.

Nenet motioned for him to stop talking.

"So I'm fat! Thanks a lot! It's not all my fault! You're the one that knocked me up! You're such a fucking asshole!" Blade could swear he saw tears appearing.

Diana ran off to her room crying and slammed the door shut. Nenet turned to Blade.

"Don't you know the signal for stop? I spent weeks convincing her that she wasn't fat, now you've just undone all my hard work," she growled.

"What? She's pregnant. She's supposed to get bigger and gain weight. I don't see what the big deal is. But did she really have to cry?" Blade asked.

"You really don't know about pregnant women, do you? They sometimes go through a stage where they constantly think that they're fat and ugly. During this time, you need to be supportive of her and tell her that she's neither."

"I think I'll just to stick to telling her the truth and hope that she doesn't take a swing at me."

"Poor, Blade," Nenet said patting Blade's back. "I'll start planning for your funeral."

"Okay, she cannot be that moody."

"Diana, open the bathroom door," Blade yelled.

"No."

"That's a shame because I brought you chocolate," Blade casually said.

The door flew open and Diana poked her head out. Blade took the chance to grab her and pull her put, kicking the door shut.

"Let go of me, you huge ape!" She was flailing in his arms. He put her down on the bed and straddled her to prevent her from getting back up. "Where's my chocolate?"

"Settle down, Diana." Blade reached into his bag and brought out a bottle of chocolate syrup.

"Yummy," she murmured before lifting her head to kiss him. "I bet that it'll taste good on you." Blade raised his eyebrow. So she wanted kinky.

"Nah, I'll think it'll taste even better on you," he said. In one quick move, he removed her dress. He bent down to kiss and lick her neck.

His hands slid down her chest to her stomach as he captured her lips with his. She moaned and pulled him closer. His lips were setting her on fire. She opened her mouth so he could deepen the kiss.

Diana sat up and broke the kiss. She trailed kisses down his jaw and neck, pausing several times to nibble the skin. Blade groaned. When Diana got to his chest, she pulled the shirt over his head.

Melina entered the suite to see Nenet reading a newspaper at the kitchen table.

"Is Blade back yet? I found more information about Whistler's whereabouts. I hope that these are more successful," she said.

"Yep, he's in there trying to coax Diana out of the bathroom," Nenet answered not looking up. Then a pleasure filled scream filled the room. Both women felt blood rushing to their cheeks.

"Or maybe, he already did that," Nenet said trying not to laugh as Melina's expression turned to horror.

"Oh god, that is so gross! She's my sister! Eww!" she shrieked.

"Nice to know that this experience granted you with the vocabulary span of a teenager," Nenet commented.


	16. Domino after Domino

A/N: Okay y'all! This is the chapter to rival all other chapters. I spent six hours writing this. This chapter is huge. Probably my longest chapter ever, and I'm so proud. I personally love this chapter because it's so fing amazing!

Please review afterwards, so I know what you think. My beta has already given me the longest and most thoughtful review and opinion ever. I loved it!

Thanks to my wonderful beta: bassdogg2006 !

Here's the chappy!

Diana sat on a bean bag watching Melina and Chione exercise in the gym. Melina was on a balance beam, and Chione was perfecting her staff fighting on the gym mat.

Diana subconsciously rubbed her stomach. She was at the end of her 8th month, and she felt like killing something. But her mom had forbidden her from doing so, and on top of that she had made Diana promise to keep a minimum distance of five feet away from all equipment.

She annoyingly growled as she watched the two women do what she so desperately wanted to do.

Both women turned their attention to her. "What's up your ass?" Melina asked, then performed a flawless back-handspring.

Diana narrowed her eyes. "Well if you really want to know, I'm bored as hell. My entire body is sore. I have Braxton Hick contractions. I haven't had sex in a week. I'm forbidden to do anything that requires energy. Blade's considering locking me up in a hospital until I give birth. It takes me five minutes to get out of chair. I've gained 60 pounds. My ass is the size of a continent. And the baby's already dropped down, so I'm extremely uncomfortable. Is there anything else you like to know, Bitchlina?"

Melina's eyes were wide. Chione, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" Diana growled.

"Blade's really considering locking you up? That's priceless!" She said in between laughs. Diana used her power to make the staff in Chione's hands whack her upside the head.

"Ow! But I'm on Blade on this one. You have had a series of close calls," Chione pointed out.

Diana huffed, "Name one."

"Well, there was your almost miscarriage, your run-in with Janus, and the time you were attacked when you went to get ice cream. And those are just the ones that I know about," Chione replied.

"You mean she didn't tell you about the bar?" Melina said without thinking.

"Melina!" Melina cringed.

"Sorry!"

Chione looked back and forth between both women. "What happened at the bar?"

"Well, since I already mentioned it, I guess I should tell the story."

"Do it and you're dead!" Diana threatened and Melina just smirked.

She jumped off the balance beam and leaned against it. Chione walked over to them.

"Yeah right. Nenet said you couldn't kill anybody anyway. So anyway, it was a week after Diana found out that she was pregnant. And she was uber pissed off at men, specifically Blade. So we went to a bar to blow off some steam. Several guys hit on Diana, but she rudely sent them away. One egotistical horny vampire touched her, so she kneed him in the groin. Then we left the club, and the vampire and his gang decided that they wanted revenge. But remember, a pissed of Diana is a dangerous Diana. She killed off his gang with three well-placed shots to the head with her .45. But the leader she pinned to the wall. Then she used her pocketknife and cut off his manhood, then fed it to him. Then she shot him in the stomach, testicles, and finally, the heart. Poor bastard had a painful death."

"I know you use to be an assassin, but was that really necessary? Couldn't you have just slit his throat?" Chione asked.

"He was asking for it. He should've taken the knee to the groin as a warning. But he didn't. His fault. Not mine," Diana replied.

"You should really try to be less violent, Dyania," Nenet said as she entered the gym. "Your life might improve."

"Oh come on! Why is everybody ganging up on me? The bastard deserved it. It's not my fault that he couldn't take a rejection. I hate men."

"Did you tell Blade?" Nenet asked, taking a seat next to her.

"Hell no."

"Why not?" all three women asked.

"Cause he thinks he's this big bad killer, and if I tell him how brutal I can be, it'll hurt his fragile male ego," she explained.

"'Fragile'?" Melina questioned.

"Well, when we were in Russia, I called him frigid and he spent hours proving me wrong. That was the best sex of my life."

"Mother in room," Nenet reminded.

"Oh come on, Nenet. Don't act as if you haven't gotten any," Chione said.

"Yes, but back in my day, sex was a private matter. It's bad enough that Dyania's so loud when she and Blade are having fun. It's like they couldn't even wait for me to leave."

"Mom!"

Chione leaned in closer. "So he's really that good?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. He's a huge guy. I mean look at those muscles," Melina commented.

"Oh god, we are not talking about my sex life!" Diana declared.

"Thank you," Nenet said.

"Oooh, then let's talk about mine. Meneus does this thing with his tongue, and it feels so goo-"

"Stop please! I don't want to hear about anybody else's sex life!" Diana declared.

"Atleast you have a sex life to brag about. Nikolus won't touch me," Melina said solemnly.

"What?" All the attention was now focused on her. "Why not?"

"He says he doesn't want to rush our relationship by having sex. He thinks that we should wait."

"You should respect his wishes," Diana offered.

"Why? I'm horny. I haven't had sex in years, and now he wants me to wait longer. I'm also tempted to put an aphrodisiac in his meal. Di, did that frigid comment really work?"

"Like a charm. He was a like a Transylvanian horse. Great stamina."

"How I envy you," Melina said sadly.

"Hey, I thought we weren't talking about sex lives," Nenet reminded.

"Oh, get yourself one and stop being grouchy. Melina, the reason why Nikolus doesn't want to have sex is because when he and Di did it, she broke his heart. So now he's very careful about whom he dates and sleeps with," Chione said.

"You broke his heart?" Melina raged.

"You slept with Nikolus?" Nenet asked.

"How'd this turn on me? I thought we were talking about Melina. And at the time I was drunk. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I didn't know that he was serious. I don't think of him like that," Diana defended.

"Well, whatever you did is the reason why I can't get pass first base," Melina muttered.

"You think you're horny? Try having an insatiable sex drive and not being able to do anything about it cause you're pregnant and your partner refuses to touch cause you have mini contractions. Stubborn bastard," she countered.

"That sucks. It makes me appreciate that atleast I'm physically capable of having sex," Melina said.

"Thanks for the support, Mel Mel."

"Uggh, I hate that nickname!"

"Mel Mel! Mel Mel!"

"You two, stop acting like children!" Nenet demanded.

"So you and Blade having problems?" Chione asked.

"Not really," Diana answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Nenet asked.

"It's just this feeling I have. It's nothing."

"Elaborate." Nenet's voice had gone dead serious.

Okay, it's just that I have this gut feeling that Blade is only staying with me because of the baby. Sometimes I think that if I weren't pregnant, then Blade wouldn't be here."

"Why would you think that? He loves you," Melina said.

"So he says. But I wasn't good enough for him to stick around the first time. And when he came back he found out I was pregnant. That's when he stayed. I can't help but wonder if he's here for me and the baby, or just the baby. Anyway it's just a feeling, probably a passing one. You know what these hormones do to me."

"But he came back for you. That has to count for something," Chione replied.

"Before he left, I told him that I something important to tell him. But he left before I could tell him. Curiosity is a powerful emotion."

"You can't honestly believe that!" Melina said. "Look at all the stuff he's done for you."

"You mean by calling me when he's away to ask how the pregnancy is going, or protecting me because since I'm pregnant I need extra protection."

"I see your point there," Melina said.

"Don't listen to her! He loves you, Di," Chione said and glanced over at Nenet who appeared to be deep in thought. "Are you with us, Nenet?"

"Oh sorry, I just remembered I have some work to do," she answered and got up. She planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Remember. Five feet minimum."

Nenet heard the women chuckle as she left the room. She needed to have a conversation with a certain someone.

The women carried on with their conversation.

"Di, do you honestly believe that Blade is only staying with you because of the baby?" Melina asked.

"He proposed to me," she said quietly.

"What?" Chione asked.

"When?" Melina asked.

"A week after I woke up from my small coma."

"But that's a good thing, right?" Chione asked.

"Let me finish. He said that it would be in the best interests of the baby if we got married. He basically wanted a shotgun wedding."

"Oh. Now I see why you doubt him," Melina said.

"Thank you. Then I told him no. And he asked why, and I said that I didn't want to get married again and that twice was enough."

"You lied to him?" Chione asked.

"Not really. Marriage doesn't appeal to me much anymore after having two terrible husbands. And after I said that I told him that I was born a bastard. That shut up his talk about marriage real quick."

"Why didn't you just tell him that marrying because you're pregnant is not what you wanted?" Chione asked.

"He's a male and it would hurt his paternal side. Plus this way, he'll never ask me again."

"That's not a guaranteed way," Melina pointed out.

"Nothing's a guarantee in life. I mean for thousands of years I thought I couldn't have children. Now look at me," Diana said.

Both women had nothing to say to that.

Blade was going over the information his contacts had given him. Whistler had been moved yet again. At this rate, it would take years to find him. He groaned in frustration. He needed to find Whistler. Who knows what kind of torture the vampires were using on him.

He heard a door open and slam behind him. He was praying that Diana wasn't in one of her moods. But the scent was different. It was her mother.

"Blade, you and I need to have a little chat," she said stiffly.

Blade stood up and faced her. Her eyes were icy blue. Definitely not a good sign.

"About what?"

"Let's just be clear about one thing. If you ever make my daughter cry, I will make you cry," she hissed.

"Says the mother who abandoned her," he countered.

"It's kind of hard to be apart of your child's life when you banished and guards are instructed to kill you on sight. Screwing a married man does have its consequences," she growled.

"She's your flesh and blood. You could have found away to be with her," Blade argued.

"Like you did? If I recall correctly, you left when she was going to tell you she was pregnant. And before that you basically told her that she wasn't worth staying for."

"I'm not her mother. Because of you, her childhood suffered," he countered.

"And she's suffering right now because of you. I can see why she didn't want you in her and her baby's life at first. You're unstable. You don't stay in the same place for long. How long it will be until you leave Dyania for good; weeks, months, years? You put yourself before her!"

"I put my job before her, not myself. There are people out there that need my help and can't defend themselves like she can. I can't help it if that makes me spend less time with her."

"If you really loved her, you would find a way," she said icily. She smirked and started to circle him. "But you don't love her, do you? You're just here for the baby, huh? You're an asshole for treating her this way. She's not some pawn that can just be used and thrown away. She's sensitive but she's strong. She's dealt with a lot of shit in her life, and I will be damned if I allow you to add to the stress."

"That's not what she thinks," Blade countered thinking he was winning. "I even proposed to her."

Nenet stopped moving. "Oh really? She told me herself that she has doubts about you being there for her. That's probably why there's no ring on her left hand. You're a self-centered piece of shit, that's only going to screw up my daughter's life."

Blade had stopped listening after she said that Diana had doubts.

"She said that she doesn't believe that I love her?" he asked slowly. Nenet's eyes went back to silver once she heard his tone of voice.

"You haven't really given her much reason to think otherwise. She believes that everything you've done and said to her were only because she's pregnant. But from the expression on your face, I guess she and I are both wrong. Do you really love her or are you just with her because of the baby?" Nenet asked.

Before Blade could answer the door opened and Diana walked in. She noticed the defensive stances the two had.

"What's going on here?" she asked.

Nenet straightened herself. "Nothing. I was just leaving." She walked out the room.

Diana saw Blade's expression and touched his face gently. "What's wrong? What happened?"

Blade removed her hand. His face became stony. "Nothing. We just had a little argument. No big deal."

"What do you mean 'no big deal'? What was the argument about?"

"It's nothing, so drop it!" he yelled, finally snapping.

Diana went quite. Then her eyes turned blue. Oh shit.

"I don't know who the hell you think you're talking to, but I know it's not me. That crap might work on your victims, but when it comes to me you better check yourself. I am capable of causing immense pain, and if you double-cross me, so help me go-" she began.

"Diana, I just need a second alone. Okay?" he said softly. Diana's demeanor changed. Her eyes went back to normal.

"Alright," she said. "I'll be in the nursery." She walked off to another room.

Blade went off to the bedroom to gather his thoughts.

About an hour later, Blade walked into the nursery to talk to Diana. But he stopped at the doorway and just watched her.

She was sitting with legs crossed underneath her on a sofa chair. She was holding a small book and softly reciting lines. The sunlight seemed to brighten her up. She looked so serene and happy. But he knew better.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

She looked up and smiled. "Nursery rhymes. I'm trying to remember them all before the baby is born. They're quite catchy. I never thought I would have to learn them. For centuries I was told that I couldn't have children, but then you come in my life and prove them wrong. Thank you," she said sincerely.

He took in the sight before him. He didn't want to mess up her happiness but he needed to know.

"Diana, are you truly happy here with me?" he asked. Diana looked up at him and her expression changed to regret.

She calmly set the book down on the floor and folded her hands in her lap. "So that's what you and my mother were talking about."

"You should have told me that you had doubts, Diana," he said.

"And what would that have done? Led to another amongst our hundreds of other fights. Yes, I have doubts, but I'm trying to work through them. And let me tell you, it's pretty damn hard."

"It doesn't have to be hard. You can believe me when I tell you that I love you. You can trust me," he replied calmly.

She used the armrest for support and stepped out of the chair.

"Trust you?" she said, approaching him. "I trusted you with my heart and you broke it. Every time I'm around you, somebody is always trying to kill me. The first time you said you loved me was after you knew that I was pregnant. Before this baby, I wasn't good enough reason for you stay with me. But now that I'm with child, you want to play the role of perfect husband. You even proposed me just so that the child wouldn't be a bastard. And even worse, you expected me to accept it. You don't get married just because you got some woman pregnant. You get married because you love that woman. And I'm still not convinced that you do."

"What do I have to do to prove that I love you?" Blade asked desperately.

Diana blinked her eyes, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She shook her head sadly. "It's too late. If you had told me before you knew I was pregnant, I would've believed you. But now, it's too late. I feel as if you are trying to make yourself and me believe that you love me so that you can be with the baby."

"Diana, I-"

"My name's not Diana. You already know that."

"I do love you."

"You don't even know me. You don't know much about me, just like I don't know much about you. We're distant from others because of our paths. That creates a riff between us."

"Why are you doing this?" Blade asked. She touched his arm gently.

"I know you love this baby. I get that. Being a father is important to because of your past. But I don't want you to have to lie to yourself any longer. You don't love me. I know you care for me, but you don't love me the same way I love you. Don't waste you time trying to convince yourself that I'm the one, when your soul mate is out there waiting for you."

Blade was about to respond, but he heard commotion coming from the living room. Diana picked up a gun from a nearby table and entered the living room with Blade right behind her.

"Get out!" Nenet yelled at their visitor.

"I would like to see my sister, so if you would kindly move out of the way," Kafele said.

"What's all this about?" Diana asked.

"I just wanted to visit and say hi," Kafele answered.

"Well, you said it, so leave," Diana growled.

"You should be a little nicer to me. I am your twin brother after all," he replied.

"I've had enough of this shit," Diana said and pulled out a gun and pointed it at Kafele. "I believe our mother told you to get the hell out."

"Actually I wanted to talk to you," Kafele said.

"And I want you to leave. I was in the middle of something before you showed up," she growled.

"Your sister told you to leave," Nenet said.

"As if blood relations mean anything in this family anymore. Nakia was a better mother than ever you were. Oh wait, you weren't there were you?" he snarled at Nenet.

Diana had had enough. She shot him in the thigh.

"Diana!" Blade yelled in surprise.

"My name's not Diana!" She walked over to the bleeding Kafele. "You know why our mother wasn't there for us? It was because Nakia planned it that way. She banished our mother and instructed the law enforcement to kill her if they ever saw her. But why are you mad? You got the good end of the stick. You were the pharaoh's son. You had the luxuries that I had to work my ass off to get. Melina and I lost our family to vampire that you sired. We were raped day after day, by the vampire you sired. I have had hundreds of near-death experiences. Back then, I thought it was a curse, but now I realize it was a blessing. Had I been raised in that palace with you and Nakia, I would have turned out like you. An arrogant self-centered bastard who cares for nothing but himself. You think you're above everybody else? Ha! You're the one kneeling on the floor with a bullet in your thigh. Who's pathetic now?" She spit on him.

"Give me the gun," Blade said.

"Okay, I've made my point." She was about to hand him the gun, when she froze. She doubled over and clutched her stomach. "Oh shit!"

"What's wrong?" Blade asked.

"Braxton Hick contractions," she panted out. Another contraction swept through her and she squeezed the gun until it shattered in her hands. Blade caught her before she fell over.

das

"Those aren't Braxton Hicks," Nenet said.

"What?" Diana said. They all heard a whoosh and a puddle began to form at Diana's feet.

"You're in labor. Blade go get her suitcase," Nenet commanded.

"I don't have one packed yet," Diana managed to get out.

"Why not?"

"The baby's not even due for another two months!"

"Baby's have their own schedules. Blade, forget the suitcase; we'll have someone else pack it. Just help me get her to the hospital," Nenet ordered.

"What about him?" Blade asked motioning to Kafele.

"He'll heal."

Maternity ward-30 minutes into labor

"Hey, Dyania! You're just going to need to breathe. Like this: Hee-Hoe, Hee-Hoe," said Dr. Harrison.

"Shut the fuck up and do something useful!" she screamed at him. Blade grabbed her hand to help her through the pain.

Dr. Harrison noticed immediately and shook his hand. "Don't do that, she'll crush your hand." As soon as he said it, Blade let go and Diana grasped onto the rail of the bed. It snapped it in half.

"Since she agreed to no medication, you're going to have to help her through the pain. Do not put anything valuable on your body near her. She will grab the closest thing next to her. And she could severely wound you," he told Blade.

"Then how can I help?" Blade asked.

"Feed her ice chips and keep her calm. You can sit behind her and hold her if you want. I'll be right back. I'm going to go get your mother."

"Please do!" Diana pleaded.

Blade climbed into the bed behind her and held her against him.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly. She nodded and the tension left her body. He pushed the hair out of her face and kissed her cheek. "We're gonna make it through this just fine, okay?"

"Okay," she answered.

7 hours into labor

"You're only 5 centimeters dilated, Dyania. You're halfway there," the doctor reassured.

"If I don't have this baby out of me within the next few hours, I will kill you. Then I'll burn down this hospital with everybody in it!" Diana screamed. The doctor remained his composure.

"Dyania, breathe. Just like the doctor said," Blade soothed. He stroked her head, trying to calm her.

"I'm trying! Why don't you push something the size of a bowling ball through your dick, and try to breathe in a pattern?"

Blade chuckled and placed another kiss on her cheek. "You're halfway there. You can do it."

Nenet fed Diana some ice chips, which she crunched on happily.

Melina was sitting in the corner looking green.

15 hours into labor

"Oh god! It hurts! Get her out!" Diana screamed hysterically.

"She's fully dilated. Dyania, don't push yet," the doctor said.

Nenet turned to Melina. "Grab her right foot, and I'll take the right," she instructed.

They grabbed her feet and pushed them up. Melina had a camera in hand taping the whole thing.

"Ok, Dyania. On the count of the three, push. Blade, count to three the doctor ordered.

"One, two, three, push!" Blade said.

Diana bore down and pushed. Her face scrunched up in pain.

"Ok, stop. Get ready to push again."

"O-okay," she panted.

"One, two, three, push!"

"Aaargh!"

"Keep going," the doctor said.

"Ok, stop. Just a few more. Ok? Count."

"One, two, three, push!"

"Shit! Blade, I'm going to kill you for doing this to me. I will never have sex with you again. Once we get out of here, you are so dead," she threatened.

"Ok , stop. I can see the head. You're doing great. Just one more."

"One, two, three, push!"

"!"

Diana used all of her strength and pushed as hard as she could. She felt the baby pass through her and into the world. As soon as the baby was out, she relaxed her body.

The baby wailed, obviously upset from being taken away from its warm home.

"It's a beautiful baby girl," Dr. Harrison said. "Blade, do you want to cut the cord?"

"Yes," he said and he cut his daughter's umbilical cord.

"Dyania, here comes the afterbirth. It'll go by quickly," the doctor warned.

A few minutes later, the placenta had passed through, and their baby had been cleaned up, and Blade was now sitting next to Diana.

The doctor placed the baby in Diana's arms, who was struggling to stay awake.

"Dyania, you must stay awake for atleast an hour so we can monitor you," the doctor said.

"Okay," she muttered, not taking her eyes off the baby. The baby had a chocolate complexion and a small patch of curly black hair. She had yet to open her eyes, but she was putting up quite a fuss.

"Wow, she looks like both of us," Blade said. He was right. She had his lips and nose, but she had Diana's facial structure.

The baby quieted at his voice and opened her eyes. Blade and Diana gasped. Their daughter had silver eyes, but there was gold threaded through them.

"And she has both of our eyes," Diana said in complete awe.

"What are we going to name her? We never got around to picking out names," Blade said.

Diana smiled. "How about Ericka Melina Brooks?" The baby cooed happily.

"I like it and so does she," Blade said. He leaned over and kissed Diana on the lips briefly. _I love you and thank you for bearing my child_.

She smiled back. _It was my pleasure._

Few hours later

Everybody had come into see the baby and had dropped off their gifts. But they were alone again.

Diana was watching Ericka sleep, when Blade came in with food.

"Food! Thank god! I haven't seen it in forever! Thank you!" She started shoveling it down.

"How's the pain?" Blade asked.

She shrugged. "I'll live, but I'll be bleeding from 3-6 weeks. Atleast no more crazy hormones."

"You'll live? You were threatening me constantly because of the pain," he said.

"Sorry, it hurt a lot," she said.

"Dyania, we need to talk."

Diana put down her fork. "I know."

"I've been thinking about it, and I think it'll be better if we were just friends. Our previous arrangement wasn't working, so maybe this'll be better."

"You're right. This way no one gets hurt this time," she agreed.

"But I do love you, and I hope that one day you'll realize it," he said and kissed her one last time.

Nenet walked into the room. "Dyania, someone wants to see you."

"If it's Kafele, shoot him for me. I'm too tired."

Nenet shook her head. "No, it's somebody else." The visitor walked into the room. "Dyania, this is your father, Ramses."

"Blade, take Ericka and go with my mother," Diana said not taking her eyes off Ramses.

Blade picked up his daughter and went outside with Nenet, leaving Ramses and Diana alone.

"So that's my granddaughter, huh? She's beautiful," Ramses said to break then tension. Diana really did take after him. She had the same nose, lips, cheeks, and bone structure.

"Please say something. Yell, scream, please do something," he pleaded.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see you, and my grandchild. I haven't laid eyes upon you in over 6,000 years. And I'm the only one to blame for that."

"I know." Those two words were like a blow to the heart. "Why did you give me up so easily? Did you not want me that much?"

"No, no you've got it backwards. I love you and your brother very much. But back then, I was young and I thought I could get away with anything. Previous pharaohs had done it. Hell, most of them had tons of illegitimate children. But your mother was different. I loved her and I still do. But my wife, Nakia, was an extremely jealous woman, though I can't blame her. I had already destroyed her life by having an affair, and then I had what she desperately wanted so much with another woman. Even if it was common back then, the women were still hurt by affairs."

"But you let her separate my mother from me and Kafele."

"Her brother was threatening to wage war on the country if I didn't. It was the hardest thing I had to do. The look on your mother's face when she had to leave still haunts me. I can never forgive myself for the pain I caused her. She was a good woman, but she got caught up with the wrong man." Diana stared at his hand.

"Yes, I remarried. You have stepsister named Brianna. She's sixteen. I didn't bring them here because I didn't think that you'd be ready to meet them yet."

Diana churned over all this information. "I need to be alone right now. Can you please send Blade back in?"

Ramses nodded sadly. She didn't want him here. "Sure. I'll be in touch as soon as you leave the hospital."

A few moments later, Blade came back in, carrying Ericka who was still asleep. He put her back in the hospital crib.

"Dyania, are you okay?" he asked. Diana burst into tears. He immediately gathered her into his arms.

"Why me? Why did I have to have this life? Why me?" she asked over and over again.

"Shh, it's okay. Everything's going to be okay. I'm here for you," Blade said. He held her, soothed her, and everything else a good friend would have done.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because that's what was planned for you. You turned out into a phenomenal woman that's going to change the world. I'll be there right beside you."

"Thank you, Blade."

"That's not my name." Diana smiled.

"Thank you, Erik." This time, Blade smiled.

"How was the birth?" Nikolus asked.

"Gruesome, but I guess it was worth it. Di and Blade seemed really happy about their new baby," Melina answered as she got ready for bed.

"I bet. It would be nice to have kids someday, don't you think?" he asked.

"Yeah, but you have to have sex first," Melina mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing, honey."

"No, you definitely said something," Nikolus said.

"Alright, you wanna know what's wrong?"

"Something's wrong?"

"Yes, something's wrong!"

"Sorry." Nikolus winced.

"Are you still in love with Di?"

"Where did that come from?"

"Answer the question."

"Have you been talking to Chione?"

"Answer the question."

"Or was it Di herself?"

"ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION!"

"Yikes!" Nikolus looked at his hot-tempered girlfriend and chuckled. "No, I'm not in love with her. I'm in love with you."

"Then why won't you sleep with me? I haven't had sex in years because I respected your decision to wait. I'm a woman. I have needs. And so far they haven't been met. If you want this relationship to continue, things are going to have to change."

"Shut up, Mel." Nikolus rummaged through his sock drawer and pulled out a small velvet box. "I was going to do this later on, but this seems like the perfect time."

He got down on one knee, and opened the box. "Melina Nefret Lapis, will you marry me?"

Melina squealed and tackled him. She planted several kisses on his lips. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" She got off of him so he could place the ring on. It was a platinum ring with a round center diamond, and smaller diamonds surrounding half the ring. It was a Verragio ring.

He slowly slid the ring on her finger, kissing her hand as he did.

"I love it! And I love you!" she screamed. She gave him another hug. "Thank you, baby!"

"

Ramses walked back to the waiting in defeat. He found Nenet sitting in a corner sipping coffee. He sat down next to her.

"Do you'll think that she'll ever forgive me?" he asked.

Nenet took another sip of coffee before answering. "Maybe, maybe not. Now really wasn't the best time for you to show up."

"But you did, and you two get along fine," he said.

"My reasons for not being there were different from yours," she replied.

"Oh yeah, you were the victim," he said with a slight laugh.

"So you think it's funny that I didn't get to raise my own kids?" she asked defensively.

"No, it's just the situation. They say that daughters favor their dads. But in our case, she favors you."

"Well, I wasn't the one that sent her to live with another family."

"That was Nakia's idea."

"You could've stopped her."

"How? I could've lost my country."

"Or you could've fought for your children and their mother, but you were a coward. And you took the easy way out."

"Why do we always bicker like this?"

"Because you ruined my life."

"Are you mad that I ruined you life, or are you mad that I ruined the life that we could have had together?"

"Don't."

"Why not?"

"You're married."

"That didn't stop you before." Those words stung.

"I'm a changed person, but I can't say the same about you."

"Nenet, I love you and always will."

"You're married."

"I didn't want to be alone for the rest of my life. Sue me. You could have had me, if only you had forgiven me."

"It's not that easy to forgive."

"Try me."

"Why don't you try going over 6,000 years without seeing your children? Not seeing them grow up, or say their first word, or walking for the first time. You atleast got the luxury of seeing them. I didn't. Before a few months ago, the last time I saw my daughter face to face was when she was born. Try living with that for thousands of years."

"Nenet, I really am sorry. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. You can either forgive me or not. But you can't expect me to be lonely for years on end desperately waiting for you to forgive me. I want to be loved by someone who doesn't hold a grudge against me."

"Just leave," she said. He noticed that her lips were trembling.

"No."

"Please just go! I was fine until you showed up. But then you had to come back and bring all those horrible memories with you."

"Nenet?"

"Get out before I shoot you in front of everyone," she said, tears rolling down her eyes. He bent down and kissed one teardrop.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. But please leave."

"Okay," Ramses said. "But I'll be back."

Nenet watched the man she loved walk away, wondering if she'd ever have the heart to put aside his betrayal and once again love him unconditionally.

**Must Read: From now on, Diana will be called Dyania. And instead of two years, the gap between Blade 1 and 2 will be four years.**** But don't worry, the Blade 2 segment will arrive quicker than you think.  
**

**Bassdogg2006**: Thank you for being such a wonderful beta, and a consistent reviewer. I enjoy your musings alot. And thank you for the email that made my day. I'm so glad that you liked the chapter!

**To all other readers:** How can you not review after all that? Please review! I would do the same for you.


	17. He's Back!

A/N: Hey, sorry that this chapter is short, but I wanted to update. So here it is.

Special thanks to my beta: **Bassdogg2006**

* * *

_  
A month later_

"Come on, sweetie. Please stop crying." Dyania begged of her baby. Ericka had been wailing for the last half hour with no intention of stopping. Dyania had sung to her, bounced her, changed her diaper, and even tried giving her a pacifier. But nothing seemed to work. And this wasn't her hungry cry either. She had no clue what was wrong.

"Why won't you stop crying?" Dyania asked tears running down her cheeks. She was exhausted. Taking care of a baby was a 24/7 job. No time or rest for herself. She was tired.

Dyania left her suite and went down the stairs to Blade's "vampire hunter" room. It had all the stuff he needed for hunting, including weapons, up-to-date computers, new technologies that were just hitting the market, and a small medical lab.

Blade turned his head at the sound of Ericka's crying.

"Why is she crying?" he asked.

"I don't know. She's been like this for half an hour, and I've tried everything." Blade noticed Dyania's wet face.

"Have you been crying?" he asked, trying not to laugh.

"It's stressful being a mom, okay!" she yelled. Blade held his hands up in defeat. So the mood swings were still there.

"Here, let me try." Dyania handed Ericka over to Blade. As soon as she was settled in his arms, she stopped crying.

"Are you serious?! That's it? That's not fair!" Dyania whined.

"She missed me, that's all," Blade explained, peering down at his daughter. She just looked back at him. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer to her, like she was trying to snuggle against him.

"So what am I going to do when you're out hunting vampires and she suddenly misses you? Make a clone?!" Dyania asked.

"Just give her a shirt of mine. Whistler told me that's what he used to do with his kids," Blade said, not taking his eyes off of the baby. "You should get some rest. You don't look too good."

"You're right. I need the energy. I'll bring down her carrier," she said and vanished upstairs. A few minutes she came back down with the carrier, and once again went back upstairs.

Blade sat down on a chair slightly bouncing Ericka. She had the most interesting eyes he had ever seen, other than Dyania's. It appeared like she even he knew what he was talking about when she stared at him.

Her silver/golden eyes looked straight at him.

"You know, I never imagined that I would be a father. I was a ruthless and feared vampire hunter. People and vampires alike would cower before me. I knew I would never have a normal life. There were times that I did wish for a family, but knew that I could never have one. Then I met you mother. It was the weirdest set of circumstances. I actually tried to save her from becoming a vampire, but then it turned out that she already was one. She was just as skilled as me, and incredibly older. She knew more about the vampire world than I did, seeing that she's a different species of vampire. She made me see that the world was just not black and white, but gray also. Our relationship was not the best either. We argued constantly, and disagreed on everything. Then we had a big fight and I left. When I came back, I found out that she was pregnant with you. Then you two were kidnapped. But I got you both back. But now I have only one of you. I want you to have a better life than I or your mother did. Our childhoods were terrible, and we don't want the same thing for you. I promise you that'll I'll protect you with my life. You're my daughter and I love you. I'll never let anything bad happen to you. I promise," he said. She blinked her eyes at him.

"I would like to think that you understand me, but it'll be awhile before that." He picked up his sword and adjusted her so that she could see it.

"You'll inherit this one day. It'll be yours. You can use it to slay vampires or kill your future boyfriends. I prefer the second option. Your mom will probably give hers to you as well. Hers had been passed down to her by her own mother."

Ericka started to fuss. He put down his sword and tried to adjust her. She started grabbing at his chest, like she was looking for something. She was hungry.

Blade went down to the kitchen and took a bottle from the refrigerator. As it was heating up, Ericka's crying was getting louder.

"Soon, little one, soon. It's alright. You'll get fed." The microwave dinged when it was ready. As soon as he opened the door, the bottle flew to Ericka, whose arms were stretching forward..

She caught it by wrapping her little arms around it. Blade stared at her in shock. His little girl was something amazing.

* * *

_Three Years Later_

"He's back?!" Dyania asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, thanks for the help. The cure is racing through his veins as we speak," Blade replied over the phone.

"That's great! After all those years of searching; finally you found him!"

Blade frowned. "What do you mean 'finally'? I do have a kid to raise. Sorry I couldn't find Whistler sooner."

Dyania bit back laughter. "I meant it as a good thing, silly." She reached down and smacked Ericka's hand that was playing with her hair.

They were attending the Annual Council Ball. It was a party for all the head honcho vampires and it was hosted by the council. She had curled Ericka's hair for the event and told her not to pull on the curls but little Ericka could not resist tugging on them.

"Ow!"

"I told you to stop pulling on them." Ericka poked her lip out and pouted.

"That face doesn't work on me and you know it," Dyania said.

"Who are you talking to?" Blade asked.

"Ericka. She's pulling on her curls. We have to go in a few minutes. Wanna talk to her?"

"Yeah, put her on."

Dyania gave the phone to Ericka who cautiously put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, little one." Ericka's eyes brightened up immediately.

"Daddy!"

"How are you?"

"Good."

"How are your grades?"

"Good."

"How are your friends?"

"Good."

"Can you say something else besides 'good'?"

"Okay!"

"Or 'okay'?"

"When are you going to visit?" She heard him sigh over the phone.

"Not for a few days."

"Why not?"

"I have to heal your grandpa," Blade said.

"You found Grandpa Whistler! Can I see him?!" Blade cringed. He forgot that he needed to tell Whistler about his daughter.

"Not until he's all better," he replied.

"Okay," Ericka said in a defeated voice.

"You should get going, little one. You have an event to go to."

"Okay. Bye Daddy! Love you!"

"Love you too, little one." Ericka hung up the phone and handed it to her mom.

"Come on sweetie. We don't want to be late," Dyania said as she ushered Ericka out of the door.

* * *

There was a huge turnout at the ball. Everybody had been able to make it. 

The council's table was behind the dance floor, and the kids' table was right next to it. As Dyania entered with Ericka, people were being seated by ushers.

She walked over to the kids' table where Melina was seating her daughter, Ariana. The 14 month-old baby took after her mother more than her father.

"Hey, Melina. You know you're going to have to let go of her sometime," Dyania commented.

"I know, but she's going to be so far away."

"It's only ten feet."

"Shut up."

Dyania bent down and placed a kiss on her niece's forehead. "Don't worry, Ericka will take care of her. Won't you, sweetie?"

"Yep! Ari!"

Ariana stretched out her hands towards her cousin. "Ewicka!" Ericka enveloped her little cousin in a hug.

"You two behave. Me and your mom will be at the grown up table, ok?" Both girls nodded.

The night started off with dinner. Everybody had RSVP'd their dining choices and was now enjoying the culinary delights.

Halfway through the dinner, a security guard came up to the table and whispered into Dyania's ear. She signaled for the rest of the council to get up and they followed the man out of the room, leaving behind a puzzled audience.

* * *

Blade was in the Vampire Nation Headquarters along with Whistler and Scud. Nyssa, Asad, and Damaskinos were explaining what the Reapers are and what they are doing. 

There was a loud boom and the stone entryway behind them toppled to the floor.

In the doorway was a very pissed off Dyania, Melina, and Calix (A/N: For those of you who forgot, he's a council member).

"You better have a damn good reason for interrupting the ball," she said with clenched teeth. Damaskinos gave her an eerie smile.

"Did I interrupt your tea party?" he asked.

Dyania took a step forward, but Melina put a hand on her shoulder to restrain her. Then she motioned to their audience. It was then that Dyania noticed that Blade, Whistler, Nyssa, and Asad were there.

"As I was saying, there's a new strain of vampire. We've named it the Reaper. They evolved from us," Damaskinos continued.

"And you want us to hunt them down for you," Dyania finished. He nodded.

"Along with the Blood Pack, they are the best trained vampires of their field. We've been training them for two years."

"Two years?" Blade asked.

Nyssa smiled. "We've been training to hunt you."

* * *

Blade watched as Dyania conversed with Whistler. He had to admit, she looked good. Better than good. She had lost most of the weight from the pregnancy, but there was some she couldn't get rid of. Not that he was complaining. Her breasts were fuller, her ass got bigger, and her curves were more pronounced. In other words, she looked damn fine. 

He could barely hear them but was able to catch a small part of the conversation.

"Why did you leave?" Whistler asked.

"I had my duty to the council. We're constantly working on making a less vampiric violent world. It takes a lot of work."

Then he stopped listening. So she hadn't told Whistler about Ericka yet. He wondered why.

He was so involved in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Melina appear right next to him.

"She won't tell him," she said catching him off guard.

"What the hell?"

"Oh, sorry for scaring you, Di won't tell Whistler about Ericka until she and you have discussed it first."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's just how she is. She'll always ask for your opinion concerning Ericka."

"Hmm."

"Don't stress it. You guys will talk about it sooner or later."

"Yeah."

"And by the way, I'd keep my eye on Asad and Calix," Melina said.

"Why?"

"Let's just say that the three of you have something in common."

"We're not like that anymore, Melina," Blade said.

"For now," she stated and walked away.

Blade thought about what she said. There was no way that he and Dyania were getting back together; both times had been disastrous for the both of them. And the last thing he needed right now were complications.

"So I'm a complication?" Dyania asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Stay out of my head," he growled.

"Couldn't help it." She nudged him playfully. "Come on, lighten up."

"So you didn't tell him?" he asked.

"No, that's not the top priority. I want to wait until after this whole Reaper thing is over. You game?"

"Yeah, I don't think it's the best timing either."

"I have a question for you."

"Yeah?"

"How much does Scud know?"

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes!"

Dyania jumped back in surprise. "Okay, no need to get testy," she said.

"I'm always testy. You better find something to occupy the time. The Bloodpack isn't going to be here for a few hours," he muttered and walked.

"Asshole," Dyania mumbled. He still hadn't changed. He was the same bitter jerk that she met four years ago. But she loved that bitter jerk.

* * *

The Bloodpack arrived two hours later. Asad introduced them. 

"Blade, Dyania, Melina, and Calix, meet the Bloodpack. Lighthammer,Verlaine, Priest, Snowman, Chupa, and Reinhardt," he said pointing out each one.

Reinhardt stood up and approached Blade.

"Hey um, me and the gang were wondering…" he said mumbling the rest.

"What was that?" Blade asked.

Reinhardt looked up. "Can you blush?"

Blade stepped back and smiled. "Oh, I get it. I see now. You've been training for two years to take me down. And here I am. Ooh, so exciting, isn't it? Okay, here's your chance." He pulled out a stake.

The Bloodpack immediately pulled out their guns, and so did Dyania.

"I wouldn't do that," she said coldly. Nyssa signaled for her team to put the guns away.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" Blade asked as he placed the tip of the stake to his chest.

"Blade!" Dyania hissed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Here I am. Right here in front of you," he continued. "Adolph here gets the first shot. Come on." Reinhardt looked to Nyssa.

"What are you looking at her for? You need permission? Maybe you need a little bit of incentive. Okay, I can help with that." He started twirling the stake and when Reinhardt averted his gaze, Blade smacked him on the side of the head.

"What's the matter? Missed that? It's okay. I can do it again." He started twirling the stake again and smacked Reinhardt again.

"Do it Reinhardt! Do it!" Verlaine shouted in the vampire tongue.

"Come on. What, do you need a manual?" Reinhardt was getting pissed. "Do it!"

Chupa shouted, "Take him now!" Reinhardt grabbed Blade's arm, but Blade grabbed him and pushed him down and stuck a device in the back of his head.

"Now you've got an explosive device stuck to the back of your head. Silver nitrate, rigged to go off if anybody tampers with it. I'll have the detonator with me," Blade said addressing the Bloodpack. He turned to Reinhardt. "And you—if you so much as look at me wrong--" He pushed him down for emphasis. He turned back to everybody else.

"From now on we work as a unit. You'll be taking orders from me. Any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Good."

Reinhardt stood up. His anger was apparent. His gaze landed on Dyania. "What about her? Are we going to be taking orders from her as well?" he asked as he approached her.

Her expression remained calm as she answered him. "Yes."

Reinhardt looked her over. "You don't look like much."

"Looks can be deceiving," she answered as her eyes went blue. Everybody that knew her took a step back.

"We'll see about that," he said and lunged at her. He had no idea what she did, but next thing he knew he was blown across the room. He landed in a heap on the floor.

Dyania stalked over to him, her boots clicking against the floor. She leaned down and told him, "Next time you want test my strength don't use such a cheap ass move like that." She stood up.

"Anybody else want to take me on?" she asked. Everybody backed away. She smiled in triumph. "Didn't think so." She turned to Nyssa and Blade.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road."

"You want to catch the hunter? You start with the prey. We'll target all the night places where vampires congregate. Blood banks, safe houses, the bigger the better. So…what's first?"

Nyssa looked to Asad who nodded. "The House of Pain."

Melina squealed in delight. "Ooh, I haven't been there in years! They have the best blood-alcohol mixed drinks!"

All the vampires stared at her like she was crazy. She looked around. "What?"

Dyania rolled her eyes. Let the games begin.

* * *

A/N: Please review! And I might update sooner! 


	18. Actual Chapter House of Pain

A/N: I decided to continue. I don't want to be one of those people that doesn't finish a story.

* * *

The Bloodpack, Blade, Whistler, and the other vampires stood outside looking at a grungy building.

"Where's the entrance?" Blade asked. "I don't see any signs. No vampire glyphs."

"No, because of you, we've had to rethink our habits, tighten our security," Nyssa said. She handed him a pair of infrared binoculars. "Have a closer look."

"Wow, this sure makes me glad that my species is the good one," Dyania commented. She heard a few hisses from the Bloodpack but ignored it.

Blade too the binoculars and looked through. Sure enough, there was a vampire glyph. "Nice."

Dyania turned back to her group and the Bloodpack, whom Whistler was explaining the weapons too.

He picked up a gun with stakes on it. "This hyper-velocity stake gun spits out a silver stake at 6,000 feet per second. Since you suckers don't like sunlight, we've modified the gun's entry light with a UV filter. Pop it open, instant UV light. Filter's on, no problem," he said pointing the filtered light at Priest, who reacted by pulling out a gun."

Dyania and Melina each picked up one.

Melina looked at the gun like it was a baby. "Oh, it's so adorable. I'm definitely adding this one to my collection!" She hugged the gun to her chest.

"You're weird, Mel," Dyania said. Melina stuck her tongue out in response. Calix walked up to them. "You ladies ready to go?"

"Yeah, we are. Let's go," Dyania said walking past Calix. He stared after her as she walked up to Nyssa.

"You know, pining after her like a puppy dog, isn't going to help you get with her," Melina said.

Calix snapped out of his trance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Please, don't even try that denial thing with me. I have seen many men with that look in their eye when it comes to Di, and you are in the presence of not one, but two of them. So get your act together, and you can do your staring after this Reaper problem is solved. Capiche?" Melina asked.

"Okay."

"Let's go," Whistler told Blade.

"He won't pass for one of us," Chupa mentioned as he walked by.

"Like I give a shit," Whistler retorted."

"No, he's right," Blade said, realizing that the vampires could tell that he was a human.

"Why don't you post up on the roof over there? Cover our backs."

"So the Bloodpack's calling the shots now, huh? Great," Whistler said sadly and limped away. Dyania noticed and whispered something in Melina's ear.

Melina jogged to catch up with Whistler. "Wait, I'll join you, just in case you need reinforcements."

"And now I get stuck with a vampire that acts like a damn teenager. This is just great," Whistler muttered to himself.

Reinhardt smirked and said, "Better curb that dog of yours or we'll do it for you." Blade lightly pressed the button on the detonator, then released it when the bomb beeped.

"Keep pushing, asshole."

They all headed inside the House of Pain.

"We're in," Nyssa spoke into her earphone as they headed down the stairs.

As they neared the door, Nyssa turned to Blade. "You're about to enter our world. You will see things—feeding. Just remember why you're here."

"I haven't forgotten," he said coldly, not liking what he was about to see.

They walked down a hallway that had tables on both sides filled with surgical tools.

"What exactly are we looking for in here?" Priest asked.

"Anything that looks suspicious," Reinhardt answered. They reached the door and waited as it opened.

The door opened to reveal a nightclub scene.

Blade looked disapprovingly. "You got to be kidding me." Nyssa smiled.

There were dozens, probably hundreds of vampires grinding against the dance floor. Dyania caught sight of two vampires exchanging razor blades while kissing.

"That's hot," she told Calix. "You ever try that?"

"Once, but it didn't turn to be that gratifying."

"Really? Why not?"

"The cuts on my tongue stung like hell."

"Oh, poor baby," she cooed.

"You two stop flirting and get your asses moving," Chupa growled and pushed past them. Di flicked on the laser on her gun and pointed it at the back of his head.

Calix quickly pulled her arm down. "Don't do it, Di."

Blade ears perked up when he heard Calix use Dyania's nickname. Were they that close?

"Calix, why don't you go check the bar over there for suspects?" Dyania suggested.

"Shouldn't I stay with you for backup?" he asked not wanting to leave her side.

"No, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Dyania sighed in annoyance.

"Just go, Calix!" He didn't need to be told twice.

She walked around the club searching the crowd for Reapers. Nobody suspicious came into her field of vision.

She caught sight of Blade standing on the dance stage and made her way over to him. She caught sight of a red dot on his jacket.

"Somebody's aiming for you," she said when she got to him.

"I know. Look at Reinhardt," he replied. She looked and sure enough there was a red laser pointing back at him.

She chuckled. "Nice. I think he has a crush on you. He's like the jock and you're the girl whose hair he can't stop pulling."

"Shut it, Di. And talking about crushes, where's your little puppy?"

"I sent him yipping over to the bar. He's a good friend, but he keeps trying to get together with me and it's uncomfortable."

"And why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"I thought you might have some good advice, plus, you're supposed to be my friend."

"I'm not your girlfriend who'll talk boy problems with you, but if you really want my advice. Tell him firmly and to his face where he stands with you."

Dyania smiled. "Thanks, Blade. Now I better go find some Reapers before they take us by surprise."

"See ya," he said.

She jumped off the dance stage and continued to scan the crowd.

* * *

"Oh my god, this is so boring!" Melina whined.

"Will you stop with the whining?! It's annoying," Whistler snapped.

"Well, I'm sorry, but this lookout thing is not my style. I prefer a hands-on approach. I was hoping that I could shoot something."

"Well, we're up here babysitting the roof, and there's nothing we can do about it, so shut up!"

"You're a grouch," she said.

They were quiet for a few moments.

"So your friends with Blade?" Whistler asked.

"I thought you told me to shut up."

"I didn't expect you to listen," he retorted. "So are you?"

"Yeah. We're good friends."

"Do you have a thing for him?"

Melina burst out laughing. "Blade? Me have a thing for him? That's too funny. But no, I don't like him like that. He's just a good guy friend of mine. I have a husband and a kid."

"How did you meet?"

"Through Di."

"Diana?"

"Yeah, but her family and friends call her Di. Oh, and her real name is Dyania."

"And how exactly are you related to her?"

"We're sisters, and before you say anything, we're not related by blood and I know that we don't look alike. She's my adopted sister."

"I know she's several thousand years old, so how can that be?"

"How do you know her age?"

"I was with vampires for awhile. I heard things."

"Well, back when she was human she was given to my family when she was a baby. If you want to know the whole story ask her or Blade. It's a really long story."

"So, I know that she and Blade had an affair."

Melina eyes widened in shock. "How did you know?"

"I didn't, but you just told me."

"Shit!"

"Don't worry, I had a hunch. But I am confused about one thing?"

"What?" she said weakly.

"Why would Blade keep his affair secret from me?" Whistler pondered.

"I don't know, ask him," she said looking away.

"There's nothing to hide about sleeping with a woman, unless. No, it's not possible…"

He looked over at Melina who was twisting a lock of her hair. "Am I the only that noticed that Diana gained weight. I don't remember exactly what she looked like before, but it seems that she gained weight."

"Really? I haven't noticed. Must be something in her diet."

"But gaining weight naturally doesn't affect a body like it did to her. Only special circumstances make a woman's face gain weight."

"Huh? Good to know."

"I'm going to stop beating around the bush; did she have a kid with Blade?"

Melina froze. "Um, no?"

"You're lying."

"They made me promise not to tell. They were waiting to tell you until after this whole Reaper thing was resolved. Do me a favor, and do not mention anything about it to them. Please?"

Whistler studied her. "Alright. Tell me about the kid."

"Well, they have a daughter and her name is Ericka Melina Brooks. She's about three years old-"

"Damn, did they start screwing each other right after I was gone?"

"No, they waited a few months. Or rather it took them a few months to finally act on the sexual tension. And just curious, how do you feel about being a grandpa?"

"My view is that Blade had no business having a kid doing the work he does. But now that he does, he's going have to deal with the consequences."

"Buzz kill," Melina accused.

* * *

After a few minutes of circling the club, Asad spoke into his mouthpiece, "I spotted one, but lost it. Be on the lookout."

Dyania searched the crowd for him and ran to where he was. "Where was it?"

"Over there by the staircase, but it vanished."

"Damn."

They searched the crowd for the Reapers. Dyania felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to face Asad who pointed at Reinhardt.

She saw a figure in a hood a few feet behind him approaching him slowly. They were about to shoot when Chupa came out of nowhere and began shooting at the Reaper.

Someone on the radio said, "We're under attack! There's three of them, probably more."

The doors to the club opened, and the vampires started running out.

"Dyania, I need you to meet me downstairs. I need a vampire that's not sensitive to daylight. I'm following Nomak. Don't bother with guns because it doesn't work on him," Blade said over the radio.

"I'm on it," she said engaging the safety on her guns; she started for the room.

--

Dyania entered the room and saw Blade and Nomak on a beam. Nomak seemed to be convulsing. She quietly crept around the room.

Nomak straightened himself up as the EDTA was pushed out of his system. He looked at Blade's shocked face and started laughing.

Then Blade's face turned into a smile.

"What's so amusing?" Nomak asked.

In response to his question, Dyania sliced his throat open with her dagger.

"Uggh, you bitch," he screamed and backhanded her. She flew off the beam and landed on jagged piece of wood that speared her side. She screamed in pain.

Nomak ran at Blade and shoved him off the beam and went down with him. They were fighting each other, the whole way down. Then Blade kicked Nomak to the other side of the room.

Nomak ran and got a pipe and started wielding it around. "We need the same thing, Blade." Blade got out his sword and they started swinging blows.

Nomak had Blade against the wall until a ray of light burned him. He jumped back and fled the scene.

Dyania stumbled over to Blade holding her side. He grabbed her before she could fall.

"You alright?" he asked checking the wound. The piece of wood had gone completely through her and was atleast an inch in diameter.

"It's just a flesh wound. It'll heal. Fuck! It hurts!" She spat blood onto the floor.

"Can you walk on your own?"

"Yeah, I'm good." She stood up and grabbed her side.

They walked out of the room and were greeted by Nyssa.

"What happened?" she asked eyeing their wounds.

"Why didn't you tell me these things were immune to silver and garlic?" Blade asked accusingly.

"I didn't know," Nyssa answered back defensively.

"If you did, would you have told me?" he asked harshly.

"I think you know the truth when you hear it," she responded coolly. They reached the club room. Dyania walked over to a table and sat down.

"Mm-hmm. Then why didn't he kill you?" Nyssa had no answer for that.

Blade walked over to the group of vampires who were watching Chupa and Asad restrain Priest.

"How long since he's been bitten?" Blade asked Reinhardt.

"About 20 minutes," Asad answered.

"His skin is fucking burning," Chupa said.

"He's already starting to change," Blade said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Calix scoffed.

"Quiet, Calix!" Dyania snapped. Blade glared at Calix.

Priest's screams stole their attention.

"Will somebody shut him the fuck up?!" Reinhardt yelled.

"Kill me now, Chupa," Priest begged in vampire tongue.

Chupa pointed the gun at Priest's chest and closed his eyes. "A man without fear…"

He shot Priest several times.

Priest's chin split down the middle and tried to get up.

"Hold on. Hold him, Chupa!" Asad commanded.

"Come on, man! Put him out of his fucking misery," Reinhardt said. Snowman tossed him his sword.

Nyssa turned to Reinhardt. "Don't you get it? You can't finish him that way!"

"Hold him! Hold him down, Chupa!" Asad said.

Reinhardt ignored her and sliced Priest's head in half.

Blade walked over to them and said one simple word. "Move." He placed his boot on Priest's chest. He aimed his gun at the window and shot it.

Someone shouted, "Back off!"

The rays from the sun beamed down on Priest and disintegrated his body only leaving a piece of his head.

"If that was your Bloodpack Sunday punch, we're in trouble." Everybody turned to look as Whistler, Melina, and Scud entered.

"These motherfuckers left their post," Scud accused. "They just disappeared."

"Where were you two?" Blade asked.

"We ran into a little Reaper action ourselves," Whistler replied.

"Oh, yeah? How little? We lost a man. Priest. You want me to carve his fucking name on your chest?" Chupa said threateningly to Whistler. Melina stepped in between the two.

"There are always casualties in war. Get over it," she said icily.

Whistler spoke up. "Let me show you."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I wanted to get this chapter up.


	19. Judgment Call

A/N: Here is another chapter!  I don't know when I can update again cuz right now I'm focusing on senior year and that is stressful enough already  Enjoy!

Back at the hideout

Dyania was in the med lab sitting down while Melina was pulling splinters out of her.

"Fuck! That hurts!" Dyania screamed.

"Oh, shut up. You've experienced worse pain," Melina said wiping the tweezers on alcohol.

"How many more?" Dyania asked.

"Not many. Just a few," Melina said and pulled out another one. Dyania gritted her teeth.

"What the hell is going on in here for you to scream so loudly?" Blade asked entering.

"I'm pulling out the splinters from Di's wound," Melina explained plucking out a few more splinters. "She's being a baby about it."

"Said the woman who broke her husband's arm during childbirth," Dyania said. She sighed as Melina pulled the last splinter out.

"All done. See, that wasn't so bad," Melina said putting away the tweezers.

"How about we switch places, then tell me it's not so bad," Dyania countered. She stood up and looked at the wound. "Uggh, I hope it doesn't scar."

"It shouldn't. It's not silver," Blade said. "It's closing up already."

"That is the upside of being a vampire. One of the good ones anyway," she said inspecting the wound. She bandaged it.

"How did the autopsy go?" Melina asked.

"We found out how the Reaper's anatomy works, and here is a blood sample from it," he said handing a vial of clear fluid to Melina.

"It's clear."

"Nyssa can explain that to you."

Dyania could sense that Blade had something else on his mind. "What do you want, Blade?"

"What makes you think that I want something?" he asked innocently.

"You have that look in your eyes," she said.

"Wow, I can still feel the sexual tension," Melina said. They both glared at her.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll leave." She put down the medical tools. _You better tell me what happens_, she mouthed to Dyania and walked out of the room.

"I need a favor," Blade said.

"Surprise, surprise," Dyania mumbled.

"Di…" Blade began.

"Fine. What is it?"

"I need you to use your connections to run a background check on Damaskinos and everybody who works for him," he said.

"Already being done. Did you really think that I was going into this unprepared?"

"There's always a possibility," Blade replied. She looked at him in disbelief.

"You seem to have forgotten what my position is in this world," she said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, I know, big shot council member who was probably placed in her position by nepotism. Get off your high horse."

"What the fuck is up your ass that you have to insult me and my work?"

"Well, being prepared isn't exactly your forte. You're prone to accidents quite often," Blade snapped.

"Well, nice to see that the asshole in you has returned. And it only took…" she looked at her watch. "30 hours."

"Go to hell."

"What the fuck is up with you?!" she demanded.

"Nothing." Blade put on a poker face.

She stepped closer to him. "No, seriously. What's wrong? You suddenly went from hot to cold."

He still said nothing.

"Erik, please." The pleading in her eyes made him give in.

"I don't want Calix around my daughter," he finally spoke.

"First of all, _our_ daughter. Second of all, what business of it is yours to tell me who she can or cannot be around?"

"I don't want another man around my daughter," he growled.

"Maybe if you were around more, you wouldn't be feeling so insecure," Dyania retorted.

"So that gives you the right to bring other men around my daughter?"

"Where is this all coming from? What makes you think that Calix hangs around at the house?" she asked.

Blade, once again, was silent.

"Let me guess, you and Calix had a talk." Silence. "Wow, you can't even man up and tell me what happened. I don't owe you an explanation for anything that I choose to do with my daughter, but just to let you know, the only times he's seen her are at events."

She walked away from him. "You know, after everything we've been through, it's nice to know that you still don't trust me." She slammed the door behind her when she left.

Blade sighed. His list of fuckups had just been extended.

------------------

"Calix! Get the fuck down here!" Dyania bellowed. She stood in the gym fuming. She had tried to take her anger out by exercise but as usual it didn't work.

Calix arrived in seconds. Dyania approached him menacingly and he took a step back.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kick your ass off this mission," she hissed.

"I don't understand. What's wrong, Di?"

"Don't play innocent with me. You have no right to discuss my daughter with Blade. No right what so ever."

"Whatever he told you was a lie," Calix said to quickly. Dyania smiled icily at him. He had just given himself away.

"Actually he didn't give you up. I guess that makes him more honorable than you. This is the perfect reason why I shouldn't date you. Blade is twice the man you'll ever be," Dyania said.

"Now get out of my sight. You're dismissed from this mission."

"What?! You can't do that! I promise that I won't do it again!" he begged.

"Your replacement is already on her way. Leave now before I hurt you," she threatened.

"You're making a big mistake," he growled.

"If that's a threat, I can take your resignation from the council right now."

"You wouldn't dare."

"I've already been accused of being placed in the council because of who my mother is, why not test that theory? The council has already been notified of your actions."

"You're doing this for personal reasons!" he accused.

"While they are personal, angering someone on your team can come back to bite you in the ass. Next time we go out, he could have let you die. I won't have you on this mission if you won't play nice with others. Now, leave."

Calix stormed out the gym, smashing a few objects on his way out.

"Shit!" Dyania said. She might have just lost one of her council members.

-----------------

Blade found Dyania sitting on the roof in the pouring rain. She seemed unaffected by it. She was drenched from head to toe and Blade knew that he would be too if he stayed out there for long. She was staring straight ahead as he walked up next to her.

"Come back inside, Di."

"I'm good out here." Her voice was low and weak.

"Why are you sulking?"

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be off causing problems for somebody else?"

"Look, Di. I'm sorry."

"Are you sorry for being an asshole or are you sorry for implying that I'm spiteful mom?"

"Both," he answered.

"Bullshit. Because of you, I might need to look for a new council member."

"Was it that serious?"

"It probably wasn't, but either way, I overreacted. Because of you, I overreacted. I let my emotions take control and in this line of work I can't afford to do that. My judgment was impaired. My judgment is always impaired when it comes to you."

"You're just emotionally exhausted. Now, get your ass inside."

She turned her head to glare at him. "No. I'm fine out here."

"Yeah, well, you're annoying me by sitting out here in the pouring rain."

"Does it look like I give a fuck?"

Blade grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder.

"What the hell?! Put me down!"

"No." He carefully made his way down to the fire escape that led to his room. He dumped her on the fire escape floor as he opened his window, being sure to keep hold of her arm. Once the window was open, he carried her inside and put her down on the floor.

"You didn't have to do that," Dyania whined as she wrung out her hair.

"As I said, you were annoying me."

"Sure I was. Why not just drop me off in the spare room I'm already staying in? Why am I in your room?"

"Don't get any ideas. I want to talk."

"You hardly ever want to talk, so this must be serious."

"Will you let me finish?" Blade asked getting impatient.

"Sure. The floor is all yours," Dyania replied leaning against a table.

"I don't think we should tell Whistler about Ericka."

"What?! Why?!"

"Just hear me out," Blade said trying to placate her.

"You want me to listen to you say that you're ashamed of your own daughter?"

"That's not how it is."

"Then explain to me what is your reason behind this decision."

"I was trying to. Look, Whistler hates vampires, period. He has rules when it comes to being a vampire hunter. One of the major ones is never get close to anyone. But I got close to you. More than close. We had a kid together. He's not going to be happy about that, regardless of the fact that she's my daughter. He can't find out. If he ever does, it won't be a pleasant scene. I don't want to put him in the position to say awful things about Ericka, or you. Please, tell me that you agree."

Dyania stared at him hard. Blade stared back, wondering what her answer was.

"Okay," she murmured.

"What?" he asked in belief.

"Fine, we won't tell him. Now, if you excuse me, I have things to do," she replied walking past him. He grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving.

"Let go of me, Blade."

"I'm sorry. Not just for this or what happened earlier. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry that I broke your heart. I'm sorry that I left. I'm sorry for not being there for half of the pregnancy. I'm sorry for making you raise our daughter on your own. I'm sorry that I made you feel unimportant because you are very important."

"Why are you saying all of this?"

"Because I'm tired of fighting with you," he admitted. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. "I've missed you."

"I'm still in love with you," she whispered.

He pulled away. "What was that?"

"I'm sorry. That just slipped out. I didn't mean it," Dyania rambled trying to cover her tracks. "I should go. Maybe I need to send a replacement for me as we-"

His lips cut her off. They were gentle but unrelenting. He slid her wet jacket off her shoulders and dropped it to the floor.

His lips moved to her chin, and he trailed them along her jaw to her neck. He found her favorite spot on her neck and flicked his tongue over it. He was rewarded with a moan.

Dyania pulled slightly back. "We really shouldn't do this. I don't think I could handle it emotionally."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he mumbled as he nibbled on her collarbone.  
For what it's worth. I still love you too."

Dyania started sobbing. "We can't do this. I can't do this. Everything is just going to fall apart like last time."

"Di, look at me. It's going to be okay. Trust me." She opened her mouth to reply, but he beat her to it. "Just trust me, okay?" Dyania nodded.

His lips met with hers again. His hand stroked her cheek lovingly as he urged her lips apart with his tongue. She groaned into his mouth and slid her hands under his shirt. He removed her hands gently and pulled away.

She looked at him questioningly.

"No," he said. "Tonight is all about you."

That night, he made her feel like a woman again. He touched her, stroked her, teased her, tasted her, and made love to her.

Later, they were lying in bed together.

"I have to go," Dyania said sitting up. Blade kept his arm around her waist.

"Why?"

"Another council should be here any moment and people might start to notice that we're missing."

"You're right," he said getting out of the bed. They both dressed and walked out of the room as if nothing happened.

They knew that they would have to put what just happened on hold until the Reaper situation was resolved.

* * *

A/N:  Please review!


	20. Surprise Surpise!

A/N: I am going to finish this story, but it will take awhile. I am hopeful that I will I be done by the end of the year, because there should only be a few chapters left. I also fast forwarded alot in this story because I wanted more of my writing in the story and the copying the lines in the movie takes too damn long. That's it for now. Enjoy the story!

Thanks to my beta: **Bassdogg2006**

* * *

Kamilah followed the directions to an old warehouse. It looked as if it was abandoned, but she knew better. She drove around the building and parked behind it where several other vehicles were. She recognized Dyania's SUV and knew she was in the right place.

She got out of the car and grabbed her duffel bag from the backseat. She carefully scoped out the place before walking to the entrance. There was nothing but a huge lock securing the doors. She smiled as her eyes turned blue.

* * *

Hearing a loud bang, everybody's focus shot straight towards the blonde woman standing in the doorway.

"Isn't that…" Blade began to ask.

"Yep," Dyania answered. "Who knew that the council would send her?"

"Why do you say that?" Blade asked.

"She doesn't like field work much."

Whistler's eyes were glued to the woman that stood in the doorway. She was tall maybe 5'9". Her legs looked as if they would never end. She had an ample bosom and from what he could he guess, a nice and firm posterior. She sauntered over to the group, her bright green eyes darting around trying to analyze and memorize faces. She was wearing a black outfit that consisted of a tank top, pants, jacked and boots, all of which hugged her body.

Kamilah walked up to Blade, Dyania, and Whistler.

"Whistler, this is Kamilah, the youngest council member," Dyania said.

Whistler raised his eyebrow. "You're not going to introduce her to Blade?" he asked.

"They already know each other. She's the council's representative. She's our version of foreign affairs. She deals with the human and vampire race. She was the one in charge of keeping track of your whereabouts so that Blade could find you."

"Why would you have a council member looking for me? I'm not of much importance to your race," Whistler inquired.

"The council owed Blade a favor for his aid in the annihilation of two very powerful rogue vampires, and he also took out some of our minor enemies as well," Dyania explained smoothly. Whistler was being a little too curious about the council's involvement in Blade's life.

Whistler eyed Blade and Dyania suspiciously. "Why would he help you guys?"

"Well, one of them tried to kill me and the other almost killed her," Blade said, getting slightly annoyed.

"You would risk your life for her?" Whistler asked.

"We're good friends. I'd do the same for him," Dyania said.

"And his involvement with the minor threats was purely coincidental. They happened to be in league with the race that you hunt. Now, if you're done with your interrogation, we can get down to business. Calix didn't fill me in on anything, so I'm in the dark. He stormed into his office and cleaned out his desk. He also handed in his resignation. We're now a council member short."

"That bastard," Dyania mumbled. "We'll deal with that issue later. Right now we need to focus on the Reaper problem."

"Um, Calix leaving is a pretty a big issue. He's disappeared,' Kamilah tried to explain.

"We'll talk about this later!" Dyania said forcefully. Kamilah understood. Dyania didn't want the council to appear weak in front of others. "As for now, Melina will debrief you." She saw a twisted smile form on Kamilah's face. "Not literally, you pervert!"

Kamilah chuckled. "I knew it wasn't meant literally. I don't wear briefs. I wear thongs," she said in an innocent tone. Dyania silently fumed.

Kamilah smiled at her sweetly, and then turned to Whistler. "Why don't you come with me so you can tell me what you know as well?"

"No problem. Right this way," he said leading her to Melina. Kamilah looked back and winked at Dyania.

"What did that wink mean?" Blade asked.

"Either she knows that we slept together recently or she's interested in Whistler," Dyania replied.

"I don't know which one of those I want to be the reason why she winked."

"Same here," she said turning away. "Excuse me, I need to talk to Kamilah."

She walked over to Whistler, Kamilah, and Melina.

"Can I talk to Kamilah, alone? We have classified information to discuss."

"We're not done informing her of the situation," Whistler protested.

"Well, I'll finish it for you," Dyania replied quickly. Whistler left and Melina followed behind.

"So now that they're gone, tell me what's up with you and tall, dark, and handsome," Kamilah said.

"Nothing! And keep your voice down!" Dyania hissed.

"Liar. You have that 'I just had sex" look on your face. And I should know since I've put it there several times," Kamilah teased.

"Shut up! People might hear you! You forget that everybody except Whistler has enhanced hearing!" Dyania growled.

"Calm down, hun. There's nothing to be paranoid about. My lips are sealed," Kamilah said wrapping her arms around Dyania.

Chupa tapped Reinhardt on the shoulder and pointed at the two women. "Look at that. Lesbians!"

"We can hear you," Dyania shouted back.

Over her shoulder, she saw Blade head upstairs followed by Nyssa. She growled lowly.

Kamilah took a step back. "What was that for?"

Dyania snapped to attention. "Nothing. It was nothing. I must be hungry or something."

Kamilah started ravaging through her duffle bag and pulled out a thermos. "Here, have some blood. I packed some extra bottles."

"Thanks, I could use it," Dyania said unscrewing the top and gulping down the contents.

An hour later, Scud and Blade were showing the group how to use the UV flash grenades.

"First use your firearms to drive them back. Then toss your UV grenades," Blade started explaining.

"Right on. This is what we got for the grand finale," Scud said pointing out a box full of grenades. "I hot-wired a couple of these babies into a nitro-vacuum. Just be careful where you pop your load, alright?" They all nodded.

"And you, you're not coming?" Nyssa asked.

"No, I'm a lover, not a fighter." Scud walked away and everybody went back to packing their gear.

Dyania overheard Blade telling Nyssa to be careful. She beat down the anger stirring in her stomach. She had no right to be angry.

"Hey, Blade. Give me a hand," Whistler called out. Blade walked over to him and helped him out.

"You and Miss Muffett getting a little cozy?" Whistler asked.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you," Blade grumbled not wanting to discuss the topic.

"Looks to me like you're getting confused as to which side of the line you're standing on," Whistler stated.

"Those are real hollow words coming from a man who just spent four years running with the enemy," Blade countered angrily.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know Whistler, there's an old saying- Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. You might want to remember that," Blade said and walked away.

Dyania walked passed him and said, "I guess Whistler didn't like you defending your little girlfriend over there."

He his hand shot out and grabbed her arm then dragged her to a dark secluded spot. "Don't even start with me," he said fiercely.

"Start what?" she asked innocently.

Blade smiled, which was rare. "You're jealous."

Dyania glared. "I am not, besides there's nothing to be jealous of." She wrenched her arm away and joined Melina and Kamilah in the car.

"Women," Blade muttered under his breath.

* * *

Things were not going as expected in the sewers. The Reaper pheromones worked too well and now the Reapers were ambushing everybody.

Kamilah and Melina had been ordered by Dyania to leave and get more back up. Chupa, Asad, Verlaine, and Lighthammer were dead.

Nyssa, Reinhardt, and Dyania were holding of the Reapers as best as they could while waiting for Blade to set the bomb off.

"We can't fight them all off without using the grenades!" Dyania shouted while kicking a Reaper in the stomach sending it crashing to the wall.

"If you set one off, we die!" Reinhardt yelled back.

"I can shield you," Dyania replied.

"No need," Blade said through the headphones. There was a high-pitched squeak, and then a burst of light exploded through the sewers.

"Get down!" Dyania yelled expelling her energy to best protect Nyssa and Reinhardt. The bright light blinded her temporarily and she lost control of the shield. She lost her balance and fell into the water.

She stayed down until the light faded away. She stood up in the water and surveyed her surroundings. Reinhardt was nowhere to be seen, but Nyssa was face down in the water, covered in burns.

There were burnt carcasses all around them. She rushed over to Nyssa and dragged her out of the water. Dyania searched her for her switchblade and pulled it out.

She slashed her wrist and blood started flowing freely. She turned Nyssa's face towards her and pressed her bleeding wrist to Nyssa's mouth.

As Nyssa began to suck on Dyania's wrist, Dyania began to feel herself slightly weaken.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Dyania muttered. She gasped in pleasure as Nyssa tongue swept across her wrist. "Shit, I don't know how long I can keep this up."

"Di! Di!"

Dyania turned around to see Blade running through a passageway.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Just a little bruised, you?"

"Same, just feeding the vampire here," Dyania said and removed her wrist. "That should be enou-"

All three started screaming in pain as they were electrocuted. They promptly passed out.

* * *

"Mommy! Mommy! Wake up, Mommy!"

Dyania stirred in her sleep. "Give Mommy a few more minutes of sleep, Ericka."

"MOMMY!!!"

Dyania rolled over then suddenly realized that she wasn't at home and she shouldn't be hearing Ericka's voice. She shot straight up, suddenly awake and aware.

"Ericka!" she cried out when she took in the scene before her. Calix was holding a gun to Ericka's head. Armed guards had lasers trained on her, Blade, Whistler, and Scud.

Blade had to hold Dyania back to prevent her from launching herself at Calix. "Don't attack him. He's holding her hostage."

"If you harm one hair on her head, I will kill you in the most painful way possible," she hissed. Calix just smiled. He shot a round in the air and pressed the smoking barrel against Ericka's neck. Ericka's scream echoed throughout the chamber.

Dyania saw red and shoved Blade away from her. She charged towards Calix in a blind rage. Pain exploded in her stomach and the force of the shot propelled her backwards.

She gritted her teeth in pain and waited for the stars in her vision to go away. She looked down at her stomach to see the damage. It looked similar to tranquilizer dart, but the immense burning pain told her that something more serious was in the dart.

"He did warn you to stay back. You were just shot with silver nitrate. It won't kill you, but it will sting a bit," Calix snickered.

Dyania held back a scream as the burning sensation in her body increased. Her body was convulsing in pain.

"Oh, when I meant to say that it would sting a little, I meant a lot" Calix said.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Torturing an innocent child and her mother?!!" Whistler shouted in anger.

"It's the Daywalker's child. Not Di's. She should die," Calix said tightening his grip on Ericka. The child whimpered in pain.

"And she will in due time," Damaskinos said stepping into the room followed by Nyssa, Stevens (the lawyer), and Reinhardt.

Blade went to Dyania's side. He used their connection to lessen her pain. "Don't go after them yet. We have no weapons. No back up is coming. They sent your people on a wild goose chase."

_That's what they think. It's mandatory for council member's to wear a ring that can send out a distress signal if needed,_ Dyania told Blade mentally. _ I know Calix knows about it, so I always wear a fake on my finger and the real one is in my pocket. Backup is on its way._

_How long?_ Blade asked.

_Half an hour to an hour._

"What's going on here? Why are they doing this?" Dyania whimpered.

"They smashed up the workshop. Somebody's been keeping tabs on us. They've been lying to us from Day One. The Reaper Strain didn't evolve, it was designed."

"What?!" Nyssa, Blade, and Dyania all said at once.

"Nomak told me. I saw him back in the sewer. He let me live," Whistler continued. Nyssa stared at her father in disbelief.

"Did he now? How generous of him. I brought you all here to see the fruits of our labor," Damaskinos explained. The metal pillar in the middle of the chamber slid open. "For years I've struggled to rid our kind of any hereditary weaknesses." Inside the pillar were hundreds of fetuses in glass containers.

"And so, recombining DNA was simply the next logical step. Nomak was the first. A failure. But in time, there will be a new pure race, begotten from my own flesh, immune to silver, soon even sunlight." He had picked up one of the fetuses while explaining. Nyssa stared at the embryos with a mixture of awe and horror.

"Your race will never rival ours. We are the dominant and superior race. Your race will never become like ours," Dyania declared.

Calix pointed his gun at her. "Shut up, you stupid bitch."

"I got a question for you, you lying son of a bitch. You want to explain how Nomak got a hold of this ring?" Whistler held up a red ring and slid it over to them.

Nyssa picked it up and realized with horror that it was the family ring. She held it out to her father, hoping that it wasn't true.

He merely looked at her without emotion and replied, "I would have thought that was obvious at this point. I gave it to him, of course. A gift from father to son." Nyssa ran out of the room distressed. Damaskinos turned around and followed her.

Reinhardt smiled. "I thought they'd never leave." He shot Blade in the leg and knocked Whistler in the head with the gun.

"Daddy!" Ericka screamed. Calix tapped her head with the gun.

"Shut up, you little brat!" he hollered at her. Ericka whimpered quietly. Tears started to run down her face. Her mom and dad were in trouble and there was nothing she could do.

"The wolf has lain with the sheep long enough," Reinhardt said poetically.

"Reinhardt, you can kiss your ass goodbye." Blade pulled out the remote and pressed the button. The gadget on Reinhardt's head beeped but did nothing else.

Scud started laughing. "I'm sorry, man. B, you're wasting your time, man. The bomb's a dud. It was never supposed to explode. It was just supposed to make you feel in control."

"You thought you had me on a short leash, didn't you, jefe?" Reinhardt asked. He pulled the gadget out of his head. "Much better," he said and tossed it to Scud.

Scud walked over to Blade and flipped his bottom lip out. "See this? I'm one of Damaskinos; familiars. They needed my help to bring you here to control Nomak. The old fuck, he was always just bait. I mean, look at him," he said gesturing to Whistler who was being handcuffed. "He was you only real weakness that we knew about. But then, Calix approached us with some interesting information. You had a daughter. You weren't really smart about keeping her a secret. I mean anyone could've put two and two together. You may be fast, you may be strong and all that other bullshit, but in the end, B, you're just too human." He struck Whistler.

"Well, you little shit," Whistler spat out. Scud hit him again.

"You think they scoped out my security system? I let them in, asshole! I practically handed them the keys. You heard cue ball, right? Pretty soon they're all going to be daywalkers. When that happens, I'd rather be a pet than cattle. You got me, B? What do you think about that?"

"Two things—one, I've been onto you since they turned you. And two, it's not a dud." Blade pressed the button and Scud exploded.

"I was just starting to like him," Whistler commented.

"Take them down," Reinhardt shouted and Blade was attacked with cattle prods while Dyania and Whistler were escorted away.

"I'll be back for you, honey!" Dyania shouted as they led her away from her daughter.

"No, you won't. She might be dead the next time you see her," Calix taunted her.

"Be brave sweetheart," were the last words Ericka heard from her mother before she disappeared in the hallway.

Ericka started crying.

"Ericka, be brave. For Mommy," Blade managed to get out before he passed out.

"How touching," Calix mocked. "Now come on, brat. We have a surprise in store for you." He dragged Ericka down a hallway. He made several turns and it seemed like forever that he finally reached his destination.

He opened the door and shoved Ericka inside. The room resembled a hospital room. There was a doctor with several needles on the opposite side of the room.

"Do your job, Doc, and drain her."

"I don't need to do that. All I need is one sample of her blood," the doctor replied. "Sit her down."

Calix strapped Ericka to a chair leaving her inner forearms exposed. The doctor approached her with the needles. Ericka started to struggle in the chair. She remembered her mom's words to be brave. She smiled evilly.

"What the-" the doctor began startled that such an expression could come from such a little kid. One of the needles in his hand stabbed him in the eye and the rest stabbed Calix in the face. Ericka summoned up enough strength to break free of her bonds and escaped the room.

Calix chased after her blindly.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Ericka started screaming at the top of her lungs as she sprinted down the hall.

Dyania heard her daughter's voice and switched to "mother bear" mode. A bountiful amount of adrenaline spread through her system and she took down her captors. She snapped each of their necks and ran down the hall looking for her daughter.

"Where are you, Ericka?!" Dyania shouted as she searched the halls. She ran into another group of guards and dispatched them without blinking an eye. She took some of their weapons and continues her search for Ericka.

She ran through the maze of the building killing anyone who she came in contact with. There was no sign of Whistler, Blade, or Ericka. Calix must have taken Ericka in an opposite direction. And she also had to avoid running into Nomak.

She was running to where she thought the emergency exit might be, when she ran into Blade. She gave him a big hug.

"Oh my god, are you okay? Have you seen Ericka? Do you know where they took her?" She bombarded him with questions.

"Di, calm down. We'll find her. I think I know which way they are headed," Blade said.

"I can't believe they took her. They kidnapped our daughter. I'm a terrible mother. I can't even protect my own child," Dyania said with tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Di, I promise you that Ericka will be okay. She has us for parents. She can hold her own until we can get to her. Have faith," Blade said wiping Dyania's tears away. "Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay. Let's find those bastards! Oh, and one more thing."

"What?" Blade asked. Dyania kissed him. It tender and sweet.

"Thank you," she said. _I still love you_.

Blade smiled. "Let's go."

* * *

They both entered a huge chamber that had the doors and windows blocked off. Both Nyssa and Damaskinos lay dead on the floor surrounded by blood.

Nomak currently had Calix an Ericka cornered on the far side of the room. Dyania charged ahead as soon as she saw Ericka.

In her rage, she grabbed Nomak and flung him to the opposite of the room where he slammed into the wall and slid down to the floor.

"He's all yours," she told Blade. She turned to Calix. "And you're all mine. Let go of my daughter. You have no weapons. I could kill you in an instant since Nomak disarmed you."

"But you can't since I have your daughter with me," Calix taunted. Ericka stomped on his foot and when he let go, she fled to a safe corner.

"Now, you no longer have a shield," Dyania said. She was going to make him pay for hurting her daughter.

"I don't need a shield. I am evenly matched with you. I am a council member," Calix replied.

"A former member. Today, you are going to die."

She threw a punch at his face and when he ducked, she slammed her knee into his stomach then gave him an uppercut to the jaw.

Calix stumbled back and spit out a bloody tooth. "Nice shot, but it didn't hurt a bit."

"Oh, I'm just warming up." She tried to punch him again but he grabbed her arm and yanked it out of her socket. He reveled in her scream of pain. He kicked her in the stomach and knocked her down to the floor.

"You're pathetic," he said and spat on her. "I thought you would have more fight in you, but you're just a weakling." He pulled a switchblade from his pocket and stabbed her thigh. He twisted the blade, making her scream louder.

Ericka watched in horror as her mother was attacked. "Mommy!"

"Ericka, keep your eyes closed and cover your ears!" Dyania ordered. Ericka quickly complied, not wanting to see her mother injured.

Dyania pushed through the pain and kicked him in the groin with her other leg. He went down and she was on him in a nanosecond. The knife was out of her thigh and in her hand. She stabbed him repeatedly all over his body.

She didn't let up until they were surrounded by his blood. For good measure, she sawed the knife through his neck to decapitate him. Once the head was off, she dismembered the rest of the body. When she was done, she discovered that she was covered in blood. She looked up and saw Nomak and Blade still fighting.

Whistler appeared at the entrance. He had Dyania's sword in hand. Dyania saw him and rushed over.

"How are you and your daughter?" he asked. Dyania looked down.

"We're fine for now. I need to help Blade."

"Don't. It's his battle. Don't interfere," Whistler advised.

"But he's hurt!"

"And so are you! You're covered in blood! Use this to clean up," he said handing her a large piece of cloth. "You don't want you kid to see you like this."

Ericka opened her eyes and saw her dad fighting with the creepy bald man. He looked to be badly injured. She wanted to help, but what could she do, she was just a kid. She eyed her mother's sword in Whistler's hand.

Nomak picked up a weak Blade. Ericka ran and snatched her mother's sword from Whistler. She practically flew to Nomak's side and stabbed him through the heart.

Dyania snatched Ericka up and moved away from Nomak.

"What were you thinking?!"

"I just wanted to help Daddy!" Ericka whined. Blade stood up and clutching his side in pain, walked over to them.

"It's over," he stated. At that moment, their backup arrived.

* * *

A week later at the hospital

"Well, there seems to be no scars or any physical trauma left over. She's completely healed. There were no abnormalities in her blood. She is perfectly fine," Dr. Harrison said.

"That's great news," Dyania said staring at her daughter proudly.

"Are you sure?" Blade asked.

"I'm positive. But from what I've been briefed about the situation, I think you should put her in therapy. She did take a life."

"I already put her in therapy," Dyania replied. "She needs someone other than her parents to explain that to her."

"Well, that's good. Now, Dyania I need to talk you privately," Dr. Harrison said.

"We'll be in the hallway," Blade said taking Ericka's hand and leading her out the door.

"What did you want to discuss?" Dyania said.

"Well, we ran some tests on your blood to make sure all the silver nitrate was out of your system."

"And?"

"We found an abnormality. Well, it's not really abnormal, it was just something we weren't expecting."

"What did you find?" Dyania asked feeling herself start to panic.

"We found traces of HCG in your blood," Dr. Harrison answered.

Dyania stopped breathing. "You mean…"

The doctor nodded. "Yes. Congratulations. You're pregnant. Again."

* * *

A/N: SURPRISE!!!! I bet you weren't expecting that! Anyway, the Blade Trinity portion of the story takes place seven months later, but I will let you know when that portion starts. And that's about it. If you have any questions you can PM me. And don't forget to review!!!!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!! I AM A REVIEW WHORE!!!!


	21. Lots of Drama

A/N: Sorry that it took so long, but the end of senior year was tough. I didn't have time to have it edited because I wanted to get it out as soon as I finished, so I'd like to apologize to my beta : **Bassdogg2006**. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"_You're pregnant. Again."_

Dyania felt her heart stop. "You're joking, right? Because this isn't funny. It really isn't."

"I am serious. You're pregnant" the doctor said.

"No no no no no! This can't be happening!" Dyania shrieked. The doctor winced slightly.

He cleared his throat. "Um, while you digest that information, I'm going to set up a follow-up appointment next week. Any particular day or time?"

Dyania plopped down onto a chair, still dazed by the information.

"I'll just put you down for next Friday at 10am. Is that okay?" Dr. Harrison asked.

Dyania just nodded. She was barely listening. Her eyes drifted to her stomach. She was having another baby. Crap.

"Did you hear me?" Dr. Harrison asked.

"Yeah, next Friday at 10am. I got it. I have to go," Dyania said grabbing her purse. She left the room and found Blade and Ericka waiting for her.

Blade could immediately tell that something was wrong. "What did the doctor say? You look like you saw a ghost."

Dyania took a minute to compose herself. She forced a smile. "Um, nothing. I'm fine. Let's go."

Blade pulled Dyania up against him and whispered in her ear, "I know you're lying. We'll talk later." He let her go. She shot him a glare and scooped Ericka into her arms.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go home," she said kissing her daughters cheek, trying not to think about the fact that Ericka was going to be a big sister in nine to ten months.

"Okay, mommy!" Ericka chirped.

The drive home was tense and awkward. Dyania kept deflecting Blade's questions, and it was really starting to annoy him.

Once they got back to her condo, Blade sent Ericka to her room so he could talk o Dyania.

"What is up with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said nonchalantly.

"Bullshit. I know you're lying. Something is bothering you, and I can tell it's something big because you even blocked off your mind."

Dyania took a deep breath. "I don't know what you're talking about. Shouldn't you be preparing to leave? Your flight is in three hours."

"Forget the flight. I want to know what's bothering you," he said.

"Forget the flight? Hmm, you must not be excited to explain to Whistler how you ended up with a bastard child."

Blade growled. His patience went out the window. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Don't you ever call her that!"

"Why not? It's the truth. She's a bastard. I'm a bastard, and so is my brother."

"And what's wrong with that? Ericka being born outside of a marriage is your fault. I proposed and you rejected me. Don't you forget that," he snarled.

"Of course I turned down your proposal. I wanted to marry for love not because you knocked me up!" she shouted.

"So what? Don't blame me for Ericka being born outside of marriage. That's all on you. What has gotten into you?"

"This is all your fault, you know! I wouldn't be acting like this if it weren't for you!"

Blade suppressed a growl. "Why is it my fault?" he asked through clenched teeth. She was really starting to piss him off.

"Because you knocked me up!"

"That was years ago, get over it," he scoffed.

"I'm talking about now!" she screamed then covered her mouth in shock.

"What are you talking abo…Oh my god," he said sitting down on a couch. He looked up at her. His face had mixed emotions.

Dyania sat next to him. "I'm so sorry. This isn't how I wanted to tell you, but you kept bugging me and-"

"Di, stop talking," he said calmly. She kept her mouth shut and studied him. He was so hard to read at times, and this was one of those times where she wished he wasn't. She wished that he would say something.

Blade took in a deep breath. "Wow, another kid. What are the odds of that?"

"Very high if you don't use protection. Didn't you use a condom?" Dyania asked.

"No, I thought you were on birth control."

"Why would I be on birth control? It's not as if I was screwing other guys in the last three years," she countered defensively.

"You haven't been with any other guy except me in the last few years?" he asked.

"No! Raising a child doesn't exactly give me free time. Not to mention that I have a business to run and a race of vampires. I don't get personal time, especially since I'm a single mom."

That last statement hurt Blade a bit. He knew she was struggling with raising Ericka by herself. He tried to help out as much as he could, but hunting vampires had him constantly hopping from one country to the next.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm keeping it." There was no doubt in her mind.

"Good."

"What did you expect me to do? Abort it because it might be too hard to raise two kids on my own?" she asked defensively.

"No, never. How could you even ask me that? I love you and I love Ericka, and I love this baby," he replied.

"How could you love this baby? You just found out about its existence."

"So did you, and you love this baby too. You won't be alone on this," he said trying to placate her.

"That's what you said when I was pregnant with Ericka, and yet three months after she was born, you left."

"To do my job."

"I have a job too, but you don't see me abandoning Ericka to do it. I take her with me and make it work. We had to rebuild the security system so I could take her council meetings."

"You know what my job is and what it calls for."

"That's your excuse? Wow, that is a terrible one. I don't even know why I bother with you anymore. You leave whenever you feel like it and I'm left with all the work." She moved away from him. She could barely even look at him.

"I helped out-"

"For three fucking months! Then you left. You can never understand what I went through. You weren't even there for most of the pregnancy. I was alone, pregnant, and terrified, and I had no one to lean on."

"What are you talking about? You had your mom and your sister!"

"They have their own lives. They couldn't be with me all the time. I was alone. I had no clue what to do. The books and the classes can only prepare you for so much. They don't prepare you for being left behind when your child's father decides that he did enough."

"If you felt so alone and scared then why didn't you tell me?" This was the first time Blade had heard this. "You could have told me."

"And then what? What would you have done? Shrugged and told me to get over it?"

"No, I would have helped out more."

"You should have done that anyway. Ericka is your daughter too. Do you know how many sleepless nights I had because I had nobody else to help me with Ericka? Or how long I was exhausted because I was doing everything for her while you were off traveling? I'm still exhausted."

"You should have told me that you were stressed out and I would have stayed," Blade said.

"And why do I find that so hard to believe? I don't think you would have stayed if I asked. That's not your style. Job first, family second. Or does Ericka even count as family to you?"

Blade's temper came back with a vengeance. "How dare you even ask that?! I love my daughter!"

"You could have fooled me."

"Do you know how hard it was for me to leave?"

"Obviously not hard enough because you did. I don't even know why I was surprised. It's how you are. You don't know what family is because you've never had one."

"You are treading on dangerous territory," he snarled.

"Oh, am I? I'm sorry. I'm sorry that your childhood was so screwed up that you became a sorry excuse for a father who thinks it's perfectly okay to only see his kid once a month. I'm really sorry."

"Shut the fuck up right now," he said trying keep from yelling.

"Did I hit a nerve?"

"You know damn well what you're saying."

"Yes, I do. It's about time that I said it, or you would still behave the same. And I'm not going to let you be in and out on this baby that I'm carrying. You know what, I don't even know why I bother. You're not going to change your ways. I'm done."

Fear went through Blade. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want you apart of this kid's life. As a matter of fact, I don't want to be apart of mine or Ericka's life anymore. She's young enough so she'll eventually forget about you. And me, well I was going to be raising the kids on my own regardless if you are here or not. Atleast, this way I don't have to expect anything from you, so I won't be disappointed in the future.

"You can't be serious. I'm not leaving," Blade said. She couldn't do this to him. There's no way in hell he would abandon them.

"You have to leave in 30 minutes for your flight. I suggest you start packing."

"You're serious. You can't do this."

"Yes, I can. I have the power and the wealth to disappear if I choose to. Why don't you make things easier by leaving?" she said standing up. Her mind was made up. "Our lives will be better without you. Why don't you want to leave? By your behavior, it's not going to be that different for you. Think about it this way, I'm freeing you of your responsibilities that you didn't even take seriously in the first place. Not that you were even much of a father to Ericka, you were more of a distant friend."

Blade felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach. All his fears had been confirmed. He was a terrible father and now he was paying the price.

"Please don't take Ericka from me. I need her. She's one of the things keeping my going in life," Blade begged. He couldn't lose his daughter. She was his world.

"You took her for granted. You brought this on yourself," Dyania said trying to maintain a strong voice. Seeing Blade weaken was tearing her apart, but she needed to do this.

"Please, don't." His voice weakened.

"Ericka, come out! You and I are going out for ice cream!" Dyania yelled. Ericka came bouncing out of her room. "Say bye to your dad."

"Bye Daddy! Come back soon!" Ericka said happily. Blade grabbed Ericka in a big hug. He just held onto her for several moments.

"Daddy, let go. I want ice cream!" Ericka said while squirming. Blade finally let her go, and kissed her forehead. A tear leaked from his eye as he realized that this might be the last time that he would see his daughter.

"Let's go Ericka," Dyania said.

"Good bye, my Little One. I hope that I'll see you again soon," Blade said to Ericka. She just smiled and gave him hug. Then she practically ran out the door.

"You better be gone by the time we get back," Dyania said and closed the door behind her.

As the door shut, Blade did something he hadn't done in years. He cried.

* * *

Seven months later

Dyania waddled into her new house carrying grocery bags with Ericka and Nenet following right behind her.

"Honey, let me take some of those. The doctor said you should be taking it easy," Nenet offered.

"Thanks Mom, but I'm fine. You're not always going to be here to help me, so I need to do this on my own," Dyania said.

"Alright, Miss Independent. This place still has the new house smell," Nenet commented.

"Well, I just moved a few months ago, and I only have the necessities unpacked. As you can see, I'm not able to do much," Dyania said gesturing towards her big belly.

"Di, it's okay to ask for help. You can't do everything on your own."

"I know that, but I'm not going to lean on others for support constantly. I'll be fine," Di said taking the bags to the kitchen.

"Mommy, let me help!" Ericka said putting her bags down on the floor. She forcibly took her mother's bags and put them on the floor. Then she left the kitchen and came back with a step ladder.

"Wow, sometimes I forgot that she's really strong," Nenet said as she watched Ericka put away the groceries.

"I'm more shocked by her taking the bags from me and helping out," Dyania said while keeping an eye on Ericka. She went to work putting away the lighter objects.

"Well, you did raise her right. Plus, she's really excited about becoming big sister," Nenet said. "I guess she wants to help out as much as she can. Does she know about what happened seven months ago?"

"No. Whenever she asks about him, I tell her that he's in another country."

"That brings me to another question; did you move out of the condo because of that?" Nenet asked.

Dyania nodded. "Yeah, I've had too many memories with him there. I needed to start fresh."

"Tell me how that works out for you."

Dyania got defensive. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"How exactly are you going to start fresh? You're pregnant with his kid. His second kid. Every time you look at the kid you're going to see some of Blade's traits."

"Don't you think I know that? I always see him in Ericka, and not just the looks. She has picked up some of his habits." Dyania sighed. "Could we not talk about this? It just reminds me of that day."

"Fine, but we'll pick up this conversation again. I'm only letting you off the hook because you're pregnant," Nenet said. "I wonder what's on television."

Dyania turned on the TV and took out some food for dinner. "Ericka, get started on your homework."

"Okay, Mommy!" She skipped out the kitchen.

"I wonder what's going on in the news," Nenet said while changing the channel.

She studied the news headline and frowned. "Oh shit. We have a huge problem, Di."

Dyania turned around. "What? What's wrong?"

"Check it out," Nenet said motioning to the TV.

Dyania read it aloud. "Blade, the pyscopathic killer, caught killing someone on tape. Shit! Double motherfucking shit!!!!!!!!!!!!"

And like clockwork, Dyania's cell phone rang. She answered it.

"Fix it!" Meneus's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"So I guess you heard the news."

"This is not funny, Di. He started getting careless because of you. You better fix this."

"Why?"

"Because if he is found connected to you or the council, we all will be in trouble. Not to mention, we'll have to eliminate him. If the vampires get a hold of him, they could trace him back to you and Ericka. Fix it before it gets worse." Meneus hung up.

"I have to go to the States to fix this," Dyania said.

"How are you going to fix this? There are witnesses, and not to mention that you should not be traveling in your state," Nenet said.

"I need to do this. I have to leave now," Dyania pleaded. "Can you please watch over Ericka?"

"Fine. Be safe."

Dyania rushed off to tell Ericka that she was leaving.

* * *

Whistler plopped the tabloid down on the table. "Congratulations. You're famous. Somebody nailed us. Your face is all over the papers and television. Media's eating it up."

Blade scoffed. "Like I care."

"Well you should. Something like this. Taking out a human. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you're public enemy number one."

"I didn't know that this was a popularity contest," Blade said. He really didn't give a fuck.

"Damn it, Blade. Don't you see what they're doing? They're waging a goddamn P.R. campaign. Now, it's not just vampires we got to worry about, we're going to have to take on the rest of the world, too."

"You worry too much, old man."

"That's why we're still alive, goddamnit!" Whistler shouted. He was tired of Blade's ignorance and arrogance.

"Not for long," Dyania said stepping out of the shadows.

Blade tensed up when he saw her. Then shock was slowly replaced by anger. What was she doing here? As far as he was concerned, she wanted nothing to do with him. His eyes glanced lower at her swollen stomach, and his expression softened. His baby was in there. He averted his eyes. He knew he shouldn't get attached but that was his kid too. And this might be the only time he would ever lay eyes on the baby.

He tried to keep his emotions in check. "What are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

He saw her beautiful silver eyes studying him. She looked gorgeous even though her face showed no emotion. She was glowing.

"I need to talk about your latest scandal," she said curtly. "That was a dangerous move on your part."

"What I do is none of your business," Blade snapped.

"Yes it is because pulling a stunt like this gets you unwanted media attention not to mention that if it gets traced back to me or the council, we're all in trouble."

"How is this related to you?" Whistler asked.

"Ericka and my baby. His name is not on the birth certificate, but if anyone looks hard enough they'll figure out that I got pregnant both times around the time I was with him. And then the council will get blamed for helping him out."

"I told you," Whistler said to Blade.

"You have 24 hours to undo this. If not, the council will send someone to clean up the mess," Dyania warned.

Blade and Whistler both know what she was implying.

"How exactly do I fix this?" Blade asked.

"I currently have people working on discrediting the tape and dealing with the witnesses. What you need to do is lay low until this blows over."

"And why should I listen to you?" Blade asked.

"Because they will go after Ericka if you're not careful and they will kill her!"

"How is she?"

"She's fine. Please lay low." Dyania didn't want to stay any longer than she had to. Seeing Blade was bringing back old feelings. "Uh, I have to go." She turned on her heel and walked out the boathouse.

"I'll be right back," Blade told Whistler and jogged after Dyania. "Di, wait up."

She didn't even look back, so he ran in front of her to stop her. "Please stop and talk to me."

She kept her eyes off him. "I already did." She tried to walk around him but he stopped her.

She sighed. "What do you want?"

"To talk."

"I don't have the time to talk."

"You had enough time to come down here and warn us," Blade countered.

"Whatever, let me go."

"No," he said.

"Fine, talk and make it quick," she said.

"When did you become so cold? I just wanted to know how you're doing," he said touching her arm. She looked down at his hand.

"I'm fine," she said her voice cracking. She knew she should have sent someone else down here. Being around him was making her emotions go haywire.

"No you're not. And I'm not. I miss you and Ericka like crazy. How's the baby?"

"Fine."

"What's the gender?"

"I don't think you should know that. You might get attached," she said stepping back.

"I'm already attached. I love you. I love Ericka, and I love this baby. Now that you're here, I'm not letting you go this time." He pulled her to his body, and her big stomach bumped into him. She didn't resist.

"Our baby's been kicking like crazy ever since I laid eyes on you today," she finally said. His hand snaked between their bodies and rested on her stomach. He felt several kicks from the baby and smiled. He really wanted to be apart of Dyania's life again, but he knew it was up to her.

Dyania burst into tears. She knew she shouldn't be this close to him, but she really didn't care anymore. Blade stroked her cheek.

"Don't cry, baby. I wish I could tell you that it's going to be okay, but that's up to you," he said.

"It's hard. I'm not going to lie. I know it was going to be hard on my own, but still."

"What do you want me to do? Just name it and I'll do it," Blade said.

"Help me. Every time I look at Ericka, I think of you. Every time I picture what our baby will look like, I think of you. I can raise the kids on my own, I know I can. But I would rather you do it with me, even if you're not around much."

"You shouldn't have to compromise with me. If you want me to give up hunting, I will."

"No, you love doing it. I don't want to be the reason why you stop," Dyania said pulling away from him. "Nevermind, I should be going."

"I don't enjoy hunting vampires anymore. Things are getting worse for Whistler and me. It would do everybody some good if I disappeared permanently. It's too dangerous for me to hunt now. What do you think?"

"What do you mean by disappear permanently?" Dyania asked in a panicky voice.

"Calm down. I meant by leaving this hunter life and starting a new life with you. I want to be with you and our kids. I want to be with you thousands of years from now, babysitting our great great great great great great grandkids. I'm done with this lifestyle. I've been searching for you since you left because I wanted to tell you this but I couldn't find you. I love you so much that I'll do anything to make you happy again."

"You still want me? Even after everything I said to you," Dyania wondered.

"I've done worse to you. I think we can both move on if you're willing to try."

"I think we can too," Dyania said. Blade moved in to kiss her but her cell phone rang.

"I have to get this." She answered her phone. The conversation was short, but Blade could tell that it was an important call.

"Um, I have to go," she said to Blade.

"What did you decide?"

"I love you and I want to be with you, but first I need to handle this business. I should be back in a few days."

"How do I know that you're coming back?" Blade asked. Dyania stepped close to him and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"I hope that answers your question," she turned on her heel and disappeared into the night.

"Please come back," he whispered.

* * *

Dyania's driver pulled the car up to the Talos building. She had just gotten word that Drake had been found and the other vampires were housing him in there. Since she was the only council member in the area she had been assigned to investigate. Meneus had already set up the meeting with the Talos'.

She strode into the building not even bothering to pause as the security alarms went off.

A security guard attempted to stop her but the minute he reached out for her she broke his wrist. She took the elevator to the top floor because the stairs would have been too much of a challenge.

By the time she reached the conference room, the Danica and Asher were surrounded by guards.

"Is there really a need for that?" Dyania asked. "I'm pregnant, how could I possibly take on all these men?"

"You don't have to. You are here to see me," a deep voice came from the back. The guards parted immediately as Drake strode towards Dyania.

"Leave us," he commanded. Everybody scrambled out of the room.

"Hello, Dyania. It's been a long time. So many things have changed. I couldn't believe it when they said you were mother. And I heard about your brother. Congratulate him on the twins for me."

"Yes, we're all settling down. Which is more than I could say for you? Why are you back? What are you up to?" Dyania asked.

"Nothing. But I can't say the same for my descendants. They're planning something big, and they want my help with it."

"What are they planning?"

"You know that I cannot give you that information. You are my niece, my flash and blood, but I cannot betray my race. No matter how stupid and foolish they are. Just be prepared for war."

"A lot of people are going to die because you don't want to betray your race. The same race that you abandoned because they disgusted you. Great logic."

"Do not look down on me. I am your elder. I have told you all I can. You must go now," Drake concluded and turned away.

"After two hundred years, that's all you can say?"

"I sense that my time on this planet is going to be ending soon. Do you really want to get attached to me?" Drake's voice echoed throughout the room. He was gone.

Dyania turned only to be faced with Danica, Asher, and their security guards. They were holding shackles.

Danica smiled evilly. "Your boyfriend's been arrested. And you are not leaving this building alive."

* * *

A/N: Yay! I updated! Please review! I'm addicted to reviews!!!!!!!!!!!!


	22. A Choice to Be Made

A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I wrote it in less than an hour and I wanted to get it out pretty quickly because I am so ready to finish this story. I just finished writing this chapter less than five minutes ago so I apologize for any grammar or spelling errors. Eventually I'll have all the chapters edited and revised.

Enough with my rambling and enjoy the chapter!

* * *

_Dyania turned only to be faced with Danica, Asher, and their security guards. They were holding shackles._

_Danica smiled evilly. "Your boyfriend's been arrested. And you are not leaving this building alive."_

Dyania winced. _Oh shit! How am I going to get out of this predicament?_

Dyania knew her options were limited.

She knew couldn't take on all of them in her condition. There was only one other choice. It was risky and dangerous, but it was her best chance at escaping and surviving.

She turned on her heel and the next thing everyone knew she was crashing through the window.

Dyania felt gravity pull her down towards the city streets. She flipped over and grabbed a windowsill when she was three-quarters of the way down. Bullets started raining down so she quickly let go and landed on her feet.

She felt bullets pierce her left arm and right shoulder. She ran to her car refusing to let the pain slow her down.

"Hospital now!" she ordered her driver.

"Yes ma'am." Dyania tore off pieces of her clothing to use as tourniquets for the bullet wounds. Right as she finished wrapping them around her arm and shoulder, her cell phone rang.

"What?" she asked fiercely.

"Hun, you need to get out of the States now!" Melina said hurriedly.

"Why? What's going on?"

"The Vampire Nation put out a hit on you and Blade. The price is astronomical. I already have your plane ready to leave. Be there in an hour."

"Uh, can you get a doctor on the plane too?" Dyania said trying not to let her pain show through her voice. All of a sudden she felt a strong cramp. "Oh shit!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"I was shot twice and now I feel like I'm going into labor. Before you say anything, I went to go see Drake and after he left Danica and her posse attacked me"

"That bitch is going down. I'll send in reinforcements to dispose of her and help Blade out with this Daystar situation. Does he know that you were the one funding the Nightstalkers yet?"

"No. I'll tell him later. But please get a doctor!" She hung up and redirected the driver to the airport.

She barely made it to the plane when she passed out in pain.

* * *

_The next day_

Blade paced back and forth on the deck of the Nightstalker headquarters. He hadn't heard from Dyania since the day before. He knew something was wrong.

"Hey big guy, you have a phone call," King said.

Blade whirled on him, annoyance etched onto his face. "Who is it?"

"I don't know, some chick claiming to be your sister-in-law."

"Melina," Blade whispered and ran to the phone.

"What's going on? Where's Di?" he yelled into the phone.

"She's back here in Cairo."

Blade felt betrayal stab him. He shouldn't have believed her when she said she wanted him back.

"Why did she leave so soon?"

"She need to see her personal obstetrician."

Dread swept through him. "Why? What happened?"

"Danica and her crew attacked her. She took two bullets. She was unconscious by the time the plane landed in Cairo. The baby went into distress and…"

"Get to the point already! What happened to her and the baby?!" Blade shouted.

Melina paused, trying to hold back tears. "They had to an emergency C-section. She was only seven months into her pregnancy."

Blade tried to keep himself from panicking and breaking down. "What else?"

"The bullets were designed to shatter and they were filled with silver nitrate. Some of the bullet fragments traveled to the womb and punctured the amniotic sac and let some of the silver nitrate in. The baby was infected with it. The doctors are doing the best they can to save both of their lives."

"Oh god. Oh god." Blade tried to keep himself from hyperventilating. He needed to calm down.

"Blade, you need to get over here now."

"How am I going to do that? My face is plastered everywhere and every single agency of the country is after me."

"I can get you out of the country, but if I do, you have to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"You need to leave your vampire-hunting lifestyle behind. You can't bring that drama over to my sister anymore. You need to leave that hunger for vengeance behind. Let me and the council worry about the other vampires and Drake. Let us take care of them."

"Like you have done so far?" he retorted mockingly.

Melina bit her tongue to keep from going off on him. "Don't get smart with me. That's my offer. I will not let you bring more drama or harm to my sister. I need to know that you are willing to stay with her this time. No more coming and going to go hunt vampires, no more being a part-time father. I need to know if you are committed to being with my sister and being a good father to your kids. Let the council deal with the vampires."

"But-"

"Shut the fuck up and let me talk! We know they've been planning something for quite awhile. We've been planning something too. Pretty soon, they will be wiped out."

Blade's anger diminished as things started to click in his head. "You were the one who paid for the Nightstalkers operation. You are the reason why they haven't been found yet."

"You're going to need to sit down for what I'm about to tell you. During the Reaper incident, Whistler figured out that you and Di had a kid. That was right around the time that Nightstalkers started to grow. After he found out that she was pregnant again, he approached Di with an offer. He wanted her help with Nightstalkers so he could help get you out of the game. The council accepted the offer. We needed any help we could get. We decided to take down the other species right after Damaskinos told us about the Reapers. Whistler kept in contact with Di, informing her about the vampires' movements. He also saw her and Ericka several times when you were out of the country on independent missions."

Blade gritted his teeth in anger. "I can't believe that they both kept this from me. Was her tirade just an act?"

"No, she really did want to give up but Whistler convinced her otherwise. He wanted you to be with your kids. He wanted you to eventually live a normal life. He died for you and if you reject my offer, he gave up his life in vain. So what's your decision?"

Without hesitation, he said, "How fast can you get me out there?"

_Fin_

* * *

A/N: And this is the end, sort of. There will be an epilogue coming out soon, and hopefully it will be pretty long. So thank you for sticking with me through all these years and you know the drill.

Review!!!!!!!!!! Can I atleast get five reviews? Come on, I put a lot of effort into this story!

Lol! I am so silly.

XOXO, Wannabanauthor 3


	23. Epilogue

A/N: So here is the epilogue. It wasn't as long as I wanted it to be, but I wanted to finally wrap this story up and complete it.

* * *

Dyania slowly opened her eyes and tried to clear the fog from her mind. Her eyes snapped shut as she was blinded by the bright lights. Her throat was dry and her body hurt everywhere.

"Ugh," she groaned and opened her eyes again. _Damn, I think I'm in a hospital._

"Di," came a deep voice from beside her. She carefully turned her head and focused her eyes on the man next to her. She smiled.

"Erik? What are you doing here?" Her voice came out as a whisper, but he still heard her.

"Thank god you're awake. You're at the hospital. You were shot a week ago. Your sister flew me out here as soon as she found out." He was really glad that she was okay.

"What happened? Why was I in so much pain? I remember being shot and the pain didn't go away. I didn't heal. I barely remember getting on the plane. It's just darkness after that." Her voice became stronger with each word.

"Hold on, let me page the nurse." Blade pressed the call button. "The bullets you were shot with were filled with silver nitrate. The poison traveled all throughout your body. That's the pain you feeling."

Dyania suddenly remembered something. She sat up slowly and looked down at her stomach. It was flat. Blade noticed this.

"Calm down. The doctors saved the baby. They had to perform a C-section. The baby's fine."

Dyania sat back in relief. "Thank god! Is it a boy or girl?"

"You didn't know?"

"No, I wanted to be surprised. Silly, right?" she laughed weakly.

"No. Our baby is beautiful and perfect. Except for being in an incubator."

"What?"

"Well, the baby was premature. Look, just calm down." At that moment, a nurse entered the room.

"Hello, Mrs. Ptolemy. How are you feeling?" the cheery nurse asked.

"Like I had a shitload of poison pumped into me and had my baby cut out of my uterus," Dyania said dryly. Blade glared at her. _Be nice!_

Dyania glared back at him. _Mrs?_

Blade shrugged. She scowled.

"Can you bring our newborn in?" Blade asked the nurse.

"Sure. I'll be right back." She disappeared from the room, and several minutes later she came back wheeling in the incubator.

Dyania looked into the incubator and broke into tears. "That's our baby!"

Blade hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. "Yes, it is."

* * *

A Month Later

Dyania was in for her checkup. The doctor was checking her abdomen,

"The stitches have healed up nicely. I don't see any permanent damage to your reproductive system. You are fully healed. Congratulations!" the doctor said.

Dyania sighed in relief. "Thank god, those stitches were a pain in the ass."

The doctor chuckled. "I also have a surprise for you. Nurse!"

The nurse walked in carrying a baby.

"I am letting you take your newborn home!" the doctor said. Dyania practically ran to the nurse and took her son.

"Hey, Junior! We get to take you home today. I can't wait for you to meet your older sister formally," Dyania said nuzzling her son. She handed him over to Blade.

"He looks exactly like you,' she commented.

"But he has your eyes," Blade said staring into the silver eyes of his son. After a month watching him live in an incubator, Dyania and Blade were going to take their son home.

* * *

Nenet was waiting for him at the airport. It had been centuries since she had seen him.

Her eyes scanned the crowd for him. All of a sudden, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Hello, sister," came a deep voice from behind her. She turned around and came face to face with her brother, Drake.

"Hello, brother. Did you do what you were asked?" she said in an even tone.

"No 'How are you, big brother?'?" Drake mocked. Nenet's eyes narrowed.

"Answer the question."

"Yes, I did. Did you think I would renege on our deal? All of the vampire leaders are dead. All you have to do now is release the virus," Drake declared.

"I have a question for you. Why are you willing to sacrifice yourself and your race?" Nenet asked.

"My reign is over. I know that now. My kind are weak and stupid. It was only a matter of time before their stupidity got them wiped out. I'm just speeding along the process. Atleast I'll have done one good thing before my demise," Drake explained.

"I'm going to miss you, even though you weren't around very much in my life. I am glad that my daughter and son were atleast able to build a relationship with you," Nenet sniffled.

Drake pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to miss you too. This is for the best."

"I'll make sure your legacy will be respected. It's the least I could do after everything you did for my family."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Drake stated. H wasn't afraid of death. Actually, he was going to welcome. For the first time in 7,000 years he would be at peace.

A week later, the Daystar virus was released into the world killing all the vampires descended from Drake's race.

Nenet stood over her brother's headstone. Tears started streaming down her eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. He did what he thought was best. He'll never be forgotten," Ramses said pulling his wife into his arms. He soothingly rubbed her shoulders.

"I know," Nenet said. "But he's actually gone this time. He is not going to come back." Ramses kissed her cheek.

"I know, dear. I know."

* * *

Things progressed nicely for Dyania's family. She and Erik were finally happy. Her brother and mother were finally able to make peace; there were still some issues but they were working them out in therapy.

Dyania and Kafele had a hard time accepting their mother's marriage to their father, but they were coming to terms with it.

Erik had kept his word to Melina and gave up vampire hunting for good. He started up a dojo and was teaching people self-defense.

Melina and Nikolus didn't have anymore children because they were content with just having Arianna. She grew up to be a bright girl.

Dyania reflected upon her life. There had been a lot of hard times in her life, but now she was happy. She had a husband who loved her, kids who adored her, and a family who supported her. Things couldn't have gone better in life.

She snuggled up to her husband and fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

Alright, now it's time me for to take over this story-telling instead of some omniscient-third person narrator. I think you readers deserve some first-person story-telling, so hear I go!

In case you haven't figured out, this Ericka; Dyania and Erik's (aka Blade) daughter. Yeah, I think it's my turn to do the story-telling.

Let me start off where Mr. Omniscient left off. I was about four years old when my parents brought my little brother home. He was a cute baby. And I was the perfect older sister. Honestly, I think I spent more time with Junior than my parents did.

I'm not saying that my parents were bad parents. It's just that I preferred to spend time with my brother more than anything else. Plus I wanted to help out my parents who seemed exhausted all the time.

It's like they forgot that babies cried every two hours. I was actually pretty amused when I would see them walking like zombies because they were so tired.

Junior's cries didn't bother me that much. I was just happy to have someone else to play with. I would talk to Junior everyday, read him stories, teach him how to walk and talk. I wanted him to hurry up and grow up so that we could have more fun together.

Right around the time Junior turned three, my sister Vanessa was born. She was a noisy baby and a bratty kid. Don't get me wrong, I love my sister, but she's not exactly my favorite person in the world.

By the time I was ten years old, my parents had five kids. The last two, Drake and Nenet, were fraternal twins. Thankfully after the twins, my parents decided to stop having kids. I was so glad that I wouldn't have to deal with my mom's terrible mood swings, or lose sleep because a baby was crying. I finally could live my own life.

My life didn't turn out so badly. I grew into a smart and strong teenager. At the age of sixteen, I was apparently every boy's fantasy. I had long, curly black hair, my body was toned from exercising, and my boobs were C-cups.

My dad really didn't like the attention I was getting from boys. Little did he know that he didn't have to worry about me going out with boys.

Let's just say that guys aren't really my thing. I was never really interested in men, even since I was a kid. Women, however, had my full attention.

I loved women, literally. I loved their soft skin, their kissable lips, and their perky breasts. And I loved to make women moan. I lost my virginity to my first girlfriend at 14. We went to the Homecoming Dance and then went back to her house for some fun. My parents just thought we were having a sleepover. Atleast my dad did. My mom knew right away, and had "The Talk" with me. She also gave me a pack of Dental Dam. I guess she forgot that vampires cant catch diseases.

Anyway, my life turned out okay. I was happy. I am happy. I glad everything in my life worked out. My parents rarely fought, my siblings seemed to get along fine. My cousin Arianna was my best friend. She knew everything about me.

My life was pretty much perfect. And I have my parents to thank for that.

* * *

_**The Final Author's Note:**_ It's been a fun few years writing this story, but after awhile I lost the drive to write fan fiction. I might not be updating any of my other stories after this because I want to focus on writing my own original stories. And school has me swamped, so something has to give. I really did have fun on here , but I think my time is over. It was nice having you all reading and reviewing my stories. I will never forget this chapter in my life. Thank you all!

XOXO, Wannabanauthor


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